The Search for the One
by L van Am
Summary: Two years after Harry Potter's mysterious disappearance during the Battle of Hogwarts, a third-year Ravenclaw girl finds herself in the Pokémon universe with a mission - bring Harry back to destroy Voldemort once and for all. But time's running out - she's being pursued by Death Eaters, and they will destroy the girl if they catch her. AU, OC-centric.
1. Prologue

The Search for the One

Prologue

I glanced to my left, then to my right, before ducking into the girl's bathroom. My going into the girl's bathroom wouldn't normally be a problem, since I was a girl, but today I didn't want anyone following me. I shouldn't have worried - it was Moaning Myrtle's bathroom I was going into - but one can never really be too careful when one is planning to do something that would probably break a few school rules.

It was a book in the library's Restricted Section that had given me the idea in the first place. I was reading a general Transfiguration text when I found a spell that would supposedly conjure up an animal that was believed to be from another world. It didn't give a description of the animal, which piqued my curiosity. Thus, my probably-rule-breaking experiment.

I headed into the last stall, which was also the biggest one, put the toilet lid down and propped the Transfiguration book on the lid. I flipped to the page that the spell was on and read the description over again.

"'This spell, if performed correctly, will conjure a very strange animal, like none ever seen in this land. This spell is difficult. Enchanters should not expect to succeed in performing the spell on their first attempt.'" I blinked. "Well. That's pretty optimistic."

I pulled out my wand and fiddled with it while I read over the incantation a couple of more times to make sure I knew how to say it. My wand was a nice one - thirteen inches and made of maple and dragon heartstring - and supposedly good for Transfiguration, which I figured would be a helpful quality here.

I finally figured that I had the incantation memorized well enough, so I stopped twirling my wand and held it properly. I took a deep breath to calm myself, then waved my wand through the air and said, "Animacus Maganum!"

Nothing happened. I frowned and checked the spell again. "Animacus Maganum!"

Again, no result. I checked the book for anything helpful that I had missed, and realized I hadn't seen some pointers for wand movement.

"Oh... I had to flick it forward, not wave it... That makes sense. Animacus Maganum!"

There was a sudden beam of red light that came out of my wand. The light began to slowly form itself into a shape in midair. When the shape was about halfway formed - I guessed - I realized that the creature would crush me when it finally appeared if I didn't open the stall door. I tried to reach my hand through the light to open the latch on the door, but I couldn't get through the light. I reached around it and just managed to reach the latch and open it. The shape moved out the door and continued to form, becoming so long that it took up half of the room. With a final flash as the light finished forming, the light solidified into an actual creature.

The first word that came to mind when I saw the thing was _huge_. Besides being really, really long - long enough to wrap its tail around the base of the sinks twice - it was as thick as a tree trunk. Its skin was bright green and crisscrossed with yellow lines and symbols. Its eyes were bright yellow; its head looked like a dragon's. It also had a pair of short arms - with long claws - about a quarter of the way down its body. It opened its mouth and roared loudly, scaring me out of my wits. Then it roared again, but I could hear words rather than just a roar.

"_WHO HAS SUMMONED ME HERE?_" It thundered.

"I-I did," I stammered. "I brought you here."

The creature - who, oddly, seemed somewhat familiar - said, "_One so young... How is it possible? The Otherworld Summoning spell is too advanced for a child like you._"

"I did it, though. No one else could have done it, since no one is in here except us and Myrtle."

"I heard that!" Called a voice from one of the toilets.

"What are you?" I asked the creature, ignoring Myrtle.

"_I am Rayquaza, leader of the Weather Trio and master of the Hoenn Region._" He waited. When I reacted with a blank look, he said, "_I can see this means very little to you._"

"I vaguely remember that name from somewhere... I'll think of it. I can't believe the spell worked, though!"

"_Why did you perform it?_"

"I was curious. It just said that it would conjure a strange animal."

"He looked me straight in the eye. "_There is another reason_."

"Yes..." I sighed. "I had hoped that whatever appeared might be able to get me away from here."

"_Why do you wish to leave?_"

"The world... It hasn't been the same since Harry Potter disappeared, or died, depending on which version you believe. See, there was this war, and he was fighting in it. He was supposed to be able to kill the Dark wizard who started the war. He went to face him... and he never came back. Some people say he died. But since a body was never found, some people think he disappeared someplace else, and that he'll come back... I'm getting off topic, though.

"After Harry potter disappeared, the Dark Lord took over and his Death Eaters - his followers - make life miserable for everyone. That's why I want to leave. To get away from them."

Rayquaza sort of snorted. "_You may have inadvertently summoned the right Pokémon, child. I can help you leave, if you so choose_."

My mood brightened immediately. "Really? You can?" Then I realized what else he had said. "Wait, I remember who you are now. You're a Legendary... Pokémon..." My voice trailed off in awe. "And I somehow managed to summon you here... That's awesome!"

He huffed a bit, seeming to be impatient. "_Yes, yes. There are a few limitations on my ability to transport you out of this world. I will only be able to take you, and you alone. You may take only six personal items, and something to store them in. And you might not ever return to this world_."

"That's fine. I'll go get my... stuff." I realized then that I had a problem.

Since Voldemort took over, the only house at Hogwarts had been Slytherin, so all the years were split up among the dormitories. First and second years were in Griffyndor Tower, third and fourth years were in Ravenclaw Tower, fifth and sixth years were in the Hufflepuff dorms, and seventh years were in the Slytherin dungeons. Since I was a third year, I was living in Ravenclaw Tower, which was across the school from Myrtle's bathroom. The biggest problem was the Death Eaters that patrolled the halls of the school at all times.

I'd have to try to get back to my dorms if I wanted to go with Rayquaza, though, so I snuck through the halls, ducking behind tapestries and suits of armor when patrols passed, and taking as many secret passageways as I could remember to get to the tower.

I managed to get into the tower without drawing too much attention and slipped up to my dorm room. I took out my bag, which had had an Undetectable Extension charm put on it when I first got it, and packed. Into my bag went a jacket, a notebook, my sketchbook, my pack of drawing pencils, and my favourite bandanna. I didn't have much in the way of personal possessions besides my school stuff, since most of it was destroyed in the fire that killed my mom four years ago. I put my Muggle clothes on under my school robes, then snuck back to the bathroom in much the same way that I had gone to my dorm earlier.

When I got into the bathroom, I pulled off my robes, then took out a pencil and a piece of paper. I wrote a note that said "Voldemort can't do anything to me, because he's a loser" and placed it on top of my robes for whoever found them to read. With that done, I told Rayquaza I was ready to go.

"Oh, wait, forgot one thing." I pulled my wand out of my back pocket and put it in my bag, then put my bag on my back. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Rayquaza uncurled his tail from around the sink and coiled it around me and lifted me into the air. I immediately grabbed his tail hard, scared that I'd fall.

"So, we're going to the Pokémon world, right?" I asked him. He nodded, then roared. He waited a few seconds and roared again. As he roared for a third time, I heard something ringing underneath the sound of his cry, then I felt a sudden pull on my body. I saw a flash of light. Then, the next second, I saw nothing.

* * *

**A/N**: So here's my new Pokémon/HP crossover. I hope you like it so far. I'm trying to make this seem new, so I didn't use Harry as my main character, though he will be an important plot piece. I'm just excited to see how this goes over and if it works. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing but my OC, who doesn't even have a name yet, so she's kinda worthless as far as any money goes.


	2. Out of One World, Into the Next

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the main character. I may not own her name, even. Just her.

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Chapter 2

Out of One World, Into the Next

When I could see again, I could only see the colour blue. I was content to look at it for a while - it was very pretty - until I realized that whatever I was lying on was kind of wet.

I sat up. I appeared to be in some kind of forest clearing or a meadow. I wondered for a second how I had gotten there until I remembered Rayquaza taking me away from the castle. I looked for him but I couldn't see him. He had apparently left. I did find my bag, though. I looked into it, and everything seemed to be in there; plus, the Extension charm was still working.

I stood up and put my bag on my back. I decided to find the nearest town, and preferably a map, so I could get my bearings.

I wandered aimlessly for a little while, enjoying the scenery and trying to remember the names of each Pokémon I came across. Most of them were Hoenn Pokémon, so I assumed I was in the Hoenn region.

I eventually came to a road that ran in two directions. There were people walking on it that looked like trainers, so I decided to follow a group of them discreetly. That didn't last long, though, because some guy came up behind me and grabbed my bag, stopping me.

"What are you doing? Are you following them?" He asked sharply.

"Yeah. What's it to you? Let go of my bag!"

He let go. "Do you even know who you're following? They're some of the toughest trainers in the region. If they catch you following them, your Pokémon will feel it."

"I'm not a trainer, so I don't have any Pokémon. I was just trying to get to a town."

"You're not a trainer? How did you get here if you don't have any Pokémon?"

"None of your business. Which way to the nearest town?"

"Slateport's about two hours that way," he pointed with a sigh. "Good luck with... whatever you're doing." He started walking in the other direction.

I started down the road, continuing my Pokémon naming game. After a while, I got bored of that, so I started trying to remember all their types as well as their names. The game kept me so busy that I almost didn't notice the large arch coming up ahead of me. When I did notice it, though, I ran towards it, eager to find out what the town would look like. When I was in the city, I headed towards the building that I knew had to be the Pokémon Center. I would probably find a map there.

As a matter of fact, I did find a map there. Not only did the map show the Hoenn region, it also showed all of the other regions, plus their gym leaders and Elite Four members. I checked them out just out of curiosity, but when I checked the Sinnoh map, I got a bit of a surprise. Under the Heading of Sinnoh Champion was the name Harry Potter.

"Well, he's definitely moved on with his life, then," I muttered under my breath.

I wondered what I should do now. I wasn't at Hogwarts anymore, and I didn't have to worry about Voldemort or his bunch ruining my life anymore, so that opened up a lot of possibilities. Maybe I should become a trainer and take a gym challenge... that would be cool.

The nurse from the front desk, having noticed me staring off into space, came over. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Who, me?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine. Um... Do you know where someone could get a Pokémon for the first time?"

"Yes. There are Pokémon Professors in each of the regions who hand out Pokémon to first-time trainers. There are usually ships taking people to the different regions every few days."

"When does the next one leave?" I asked.

"The next one's going to Canalave City in the Sinnoh region in two days."

"Hmm... Maybe I'll catch that one. But I have nowhere to stay in the meantime."

"We have rooms that trainers can rent, so you can have one of those. I'll need your name, though."

"I'm Alexandra Pike. I don't have any money, though..."

She smiled. "You don't have to worry about that. The rooms are free."

"Thanks!" I said excitedly.

"You can have room three." She pointed down a nearby hallway. "It's the second door on the left."

I put my bag into the room and headed out of the Center to explore the town for a while. I ended up on the beach, sitting on the soft white sand and watching Pokémon leap above the surface of the water every so often. The light from the setting sun was very pretty as it reflected off the clouds and the water, and after a while I saw some bubbles float through the air. I wondered where they came from. They added to the picturesqueness of the scene, and I wished I had a camera.

The sun set a few minutes later and I decided that it would be a good idea to get back to the Pokémon center - I was feeling more tired than I usually did, for some odd reason. I pretty much fell into my bed and was asleep almost immediately. I began to dream soon after.

At first, all I could see were colours, swirling and moving and constantly changing. Then a silhouette appeared. It was really tall, and looked like it had four legs. _A centaur?_

As it came more into focus, I realized that it wasn't a centaur, but that it was more like a giraffe. Not by much, though.

It was tall, yes, with four legs and a long neck, but the similarities ended there. The Pokémon in front of me was white, with a black face and chest and gold toe-type things on the ends of its legs. It looked as though it had almost a halo curved around its sides. Most of all, though, it looked dignified and powerful, which I realized was true, since this was a Legendary Pokémon. Its name came to me a second after it came completely into focus.

"Arceus..." I whispered, awed. In the Pokémon games, it always said that Arceus was like a god of Pokémon, that it had created them all, and that it was among the most powerful Pokémon ever. I had to wonder why it was in _my _dream, though.

"You have a task in this world," it said. "You must find the Chosen One from your original world and persuade him to return with you. If you do not, your world and ours will be ruled over by the one who calls himself Lord Voldemort. This would be the death of Pokémon, and likely, the end of this world."

"I... I have to find Harry Potter and try to get him to come back. Why me? Why not someone else? Was it just because I decided to come to this world?"

"You were brought here to perform this task. Two years ago, when Harry Potter decided to leave your world after his conversation with his departed friend, it was prophesied that he would not die, but would instead go to another world, where he would live for a time. It was also prophesied that someone from his home world would be sent to make him return to finish the Dark Lord once and for all. That someone is you."

"Why, though?" I asked. "Why was I chosen for the prophesy and not someone else? I still don't get that."

"You have qualities that no one else in your world possesses. Why you have those qualities, and what they are, you will have to figure out for yourself."

"Okay. Is there a specific time limit I have to do this in, or can I take my time?"

"The Dark Lord's followers will soon come into this world, trying to discover why you have left your school and where you could have gone. You must not allow them to find you, or they will kill you, and Voldemort will take over this world."

"So I have to do it quick, then. What should I do to keep them from finding me?" I would process how weird it was to be having a calm conversation with the world's most powerful Pokémon later, although I was kind of having trouble wrapping my head around the whole "prophesied" thing. I still couldn't get why I was the one who had to find Harry, rather than a really powerful witch or wizard like Professor McGonagall or someone. Why send a thirteen-year-old? I'd puzzle that out later.

"Your name will give you away very quickly; you may wish to change it. Your appearance should perhaps be changed as well."

"Okay, then... what can I call myself?" I added under my breath. "I kind of like my last name, and it's pretty low-key so... a first name, then? What about... Jane? No... Sarah? Nah... April? Not that either..." I started pacing a bit, occasionally muttering a name to myself and rejecting all of them. Then, I thought of a good one. "Evey! I'll call myself Evey Pike!"

"Very well. Your appearance, then."

"I think probably just my hair and eye colour should do it. Maybe black hair and blue eyes?"

"Fine." A mirror appeared in front of me, and I saw myself normally: plain straight brown hair, brown eyes, a longish nose and normal-sized dark pink lips. Then the image split, and I saw a girl with my face, but with shiny, smooth black hair and medium blue eyes. I winked one eye. The black-haired girl winked back. It was me.

"Whoa... that looks cool. Okay. I think I can do this now. I have some kind of a chance."

"Are you certain that you understand your duties?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Find Harry, get him to come back to Hogwarts with me, and keep away from Death Eaters. How will we get back?"

"Leave that to me," Arceus said with finality. Then, he disappeared, leaving me alone until the swirling colours faded and I awoke.

* * *

**A/N**: Here it is, the next chapter. I worked pretty hard on this one; I got most of the way through it, then realized that I actually wanted the events to happen a little differently, so I had to start over. Hope you like it. I know I like this version better.

Also, Alexandra/Evey will be getting her starter Pokémon soon. A poll will be up in my profile as soon as I think of what Pokémon I might want to start her off with.

Yeah, I named my main character's new name after a V for Vendetta character. I love that movie, and the comic too, so I felt like I had to name her Evey. I don't own the name. Just the character.

Please review! you can have cookies if you review!


	3. Pokémon, Portraits and Fans

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC. And that one Shiny Lucario, but he doesn't exist. DX I wish I could own Pokémon or Harry Potter!

* * *

Chapter 3

Pokémon, Portraits and Fans...

I rolled out of bed. I'd had the craziest dream the night before. I had dreamed that Arceus had come and told me that I had to find Harry Potter. Then he had changed my appearance and I had changed my name. I glanced at the mirror on the wall beside me. A girl with black hair and bedhead glared back at me as though she had not had an incredibly restful sleep.

Huh. So it wasn't a dream after all. Which meant that I actually had changed my name, so would call myself Evey Pike from now on.

I thought over Arceus' warning, about the Death Eaters trying to find us soon. I wondered how they would be able to get here – even Voldemort and his cronies had limits – when I remembered that I had left the book from the Restricted Section on the toilet in Myrtle's bathroom. And that it was open to the page with the Otherworld Summoning spell on it. And that I had left a note in the same bathroom that said that Voldemort was a loser. This pretty much signed my death warrant, in the eyes of the Death Eaters.

I'd give them a chase, though… They had to find me to kill me, and I would probably be in a different region by the time they got to this world. Plus, I'd be travelling with Pokémon, so they couldn't pin me down. And they'd stick out like sore thumbs if they all grouped together and went after one kid. I was excited to leave and start travelling.

I showered, then got dressed and headed down to the beach again. I brought my sketchbook and drawing pencils so I could draw some of the Pokémon on the beach. I was thinking about how I could draw a Wingull when a lady in a rather expensive-looking bathing suit came walking down the beach towards me with a Glameow at her heels.

"What are you doing here, instead of playing volleyball or something with the other children?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to draw a Wingull, but they're all flying so far away that I can't see any of them."

"You're doing Pokémon portraits? Would you possibly consider doing one of my Glameow? I'd get the artist at the Pokémon Fan Club to do it, but he charges so much... You wouldn't mind, would you?"

"No, no problem. I'll be able to do a pretty good job, but it'll just be in black and white." I turned to the Glameow. "Pose however you want."

"_If you're sure,_" she replied, and started licking a paw. I began drawing when she ran it over her face.

It took me about a half hour to finish the portrait. By that time, the lady had decided to go run some errands, leaving me alone with the Glameow.

"Okay, I'm... done," I said as I finished shading her ears. "Want to see it?" She walked over and I turned the sketchbook around. She examined the drawing for a moment, then nodded approvingly.

"_It looks fine. You did a good job,_" she purred.

"Thanks. I'm not really that much of an artist, but I do my best."

Her jaw practically dropped - or if she'd been human, it would have, anyway. "_How do you understand what I'm saying?_"

"Other people don't?"

"_No. Most humans just hear me saying the name of my species when I speak. This is odd..._" She looked thoughtful and a bit bemused. "_There's only two types of humans who can understand Pokémon. I can't tell you much about them, but there's a Lucario that lives in the Pokémon Fan Club that should be able to tell you more_."

"I'll do that. Thanks." _It might help me figure out what those 'special qualities' that Arceus said I have are_.

"_Here comes my mistress,_" Glameow said.

"Oh, have you finished already, dear?" She asked. "Can I see it?" I pulled it out of the book carefully and handed it to her. She squealed. "Oh, it's gorgeous! I love it! I'm going to frame it and put it above my mantle! Thank you, dear! Would you mind if I told a few of my friends about you?"

"Go ahead. I'll be around the city until the boat for Sinnoh leaves, so I haven't really got much to do while I wait."

"What's your name, dear?"

"I'm Evey. Evey Pike."

"Thank you very much, Evey, for the portrait. Best of luck to you in Sinnoh!" The lady picked up her Glameow and walked away. Glameow turned to look back at me and I flashed her a somewhat embarrassed grin. Then I picked up all my art supplies and started walking. I was going to go see that Lucario that Glameow had mentioned and see if I couldn't figure out what Arceus had meant.

When I got to the Fan Club, I saw a sign near the door that said "For everyone who is a fan of Pokémon!" It seemed cheesy, but I guess the man who ran the place wasn't all that imaginative. I pushed open the door and walked in. The room was huge. And bright. And really full of people and Pokémon. I could see portraits on the walls, a Rapidash and a Fearow, among others. Looking around, I also spotted the lady from the beach. Her Glameow wasn't near her, so I assumed she was talking to some other Pokémon.

On the subject of talking, the noise level in the clubhouse - I use the term loosely, since it was more like a relatively small concert hall than anything, really - was deafening. A huge number of people were all talking at once. Add in the Pokémon conversations, and I could hardly hear myself think.

The beach lady waved me over when she spotted me. I went over and noticed that she was talking to a number of other women, who all also had feline Pokémon.

"This is the girl who did that genius sketch of my Glameow!" She said loudly. "Better than Richard, she is, and a lot cheaper too... What was your name again, dear?"

"Evey Pike."

"Nice to meet you, Evey," one of the other girls piped up. "I've been looking for someone to draw my Persian for ages - he just evolved a little while ago and I need a sketch of his new form, but Richard charges so much. Could you do one for me?"

"Oh, and me, too!" Said a girl with a Skitty.

"And me!" A woman with a Delcatty cut in.

"Me too!" "Oh, and one of the two of us together!" "And-"

"Okay!" I said, blushing and holding up my hands. "I'll do a portrait for each of you, later, on the beach. Who's Richard?"

"He's the artist at the Fan Club. There's no portraitist quite as skilled as he is in Slateport, and he knows it well, too! He charges whatever he wants, and no one has any choice but to pay him if they want a decent picture done!"

"The nerve of that man!" One of them muttered huffily.

"Which man would this be, exactly?" Came a masculine voice from behind me. One of the ladies blushed.

I turned around to see a man in a blue striped shirt and black dress pants with a beret on. He had a big nose with a thin little moustache and thin lips underneath it, which made his face kind of funny-looking.

"Oh, are you Richard?" I asked innocently.

He looked down at me as though he wasn't sure why I was speaking to him. "Of course I am. And who might you possibly be?"

"My name's Evey. I heard you were good at drawing Pokémon portraits?"

"I am only the best artist in all of Slateport, and you would do well to remember that!"

"Are you sure you're the best artist in Slateport?" The beach lady said tauntingly. "I think there might be a better one around, you know."

His face started to go red. "Really? Show me their work."

She handed him the portrait I had done. When his face became redder and he began to shake, I took that as a cue to try and sneak away. I wasn't fast enough, though, because he exploded before I could disappear into the crowd.

"Who drew this? Who dares call themselves a better artist than I?" He was pretty mad. I kept moving away.

"Evey did it!" The beach lady proclaimed. I facepalmed. _Thanks for making an enemy for me, lady_.

I heard his shout of rage, but not the words he used, since I wasn't really paying attention to him and was instead concentrating on moving invisibly through the crowd. Despite this attention, I almost ran smack into a short yellow shape. I tripped trying to dodge it and fell over.

"_Are you all right, human?_" The shape asked. I looked up at it. It was a Lucario, coloured a bright yellow, with a blue midriff.

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks." I pushed myself to my feet and watched the Lucario's expression. It didn't seem surprised at my answer.

"_Good._" Seeing my confusion at his lack of reaction, he said, _"The Glameow that you met on the beach told me about you. Your name is Evey, correct_?"

"Yeah. I was hoping you could shed some light on something for me. Maybe we should go somewhere else and discuss this, though," I whispered, in case someone was starting to pay attention to us.

"_There is a secluded corner that no one ever goes in. We will be able to speak freely there._" I followed the Pokémon through the crowd to a dark corner. "_You are wondering why it is that you can understand the speech of Pokémon._"

"Yes," I murmured. "I have a little bit of an idea, but not really much." I told him what Arceus had told me, about my possessing qualities that few others had. I left out the rest, though. I was thinking that it might not be wise to let my mission become common knowledge. I didn't mention that it was Arceus who told me either.

"_You have heard that there are only two types of humans who can understand our speech, correct?_" I nodded. "_The two types are psychics and hybrids, but only very powerful psychics can understand all Pokémon. Most psychics can only understand the speech of their familiar Pokémon._ _You do not appear to be psychic, however. Curious._"

"What are hybrids?" I asked. I had a sneaking suspicion - actually, it was more like a foghorn going off in my head - that I was probably one of those.

He fixed his red eyes on me. "_Not much is known about hybrid humans. Some rumours say that they are normal humans that can somehow understand Pokémon on such a deep level that they hear our speech and understand it. Still others say that they are the children of humans and Legendaries-turned-human. As it is, there are no known and proven facts about hybrids. Since it would appear that you may be one, I am sorry I can't be of any more help._"

"It's fine; you've helped a lot anyway. Thank you."

"_It was no trouble._"

I left the Fan Club quickly, in case Richard tried to catch up to me. I headed down to the beach, where about four women from the Clubhouse were waiting for me. They all had their Pokémon with them. When they spotted me, they waved excitedly until I got closer to them, then started bombarding me with portrait requests all at once. I tried in vain to calm them down, but they wouldn't shut up until a guy in an orange suit pushed through them.

"Why are you all making such a ruckus? You're disturbing everyone on the beach!" He looked really irritated. I assumed he was on the beach to try and get away from something else, and was now being rather rudely disturbed. The Persian following him looked the same.

All the women tried to start explaining themselves at once, irritating him even further. "QUIET!" He thundered. "I don't care about your motives! Just keep quiet!" He turned to me. "Might you be able to explain all the noise?"

"Yeah. I'm doing portraits of all their Pokémon, and they're a bit overexcited... Obviously. Thanks for making them be quiet."

"Yes... Pokémon portraits? Isn't there a man at the Pokémon Fan Club in this town who creates portraits for a living?"

One of the women opened her mouth to talk, but the man sent her a death glare and she closed it.

"There is," I explained, "but he charges too much for these people to afford. So they asked me to do them, since I'm apparently really good at it..."

He fixed his eyes on me. "And do they pay you for them?"

I felt pretty intimidated by him. He was one of those guys who had a permanent expression like they wouldn't take any crap from anybody. Plus his glare... I wasn't really at ease near him. I wanted to stay on his good side. "No, but I don't really need them to. I'm just drawing for fun. It's something to do while I wait for the boat."

"I see. Would you be willing to draw my Persian, then?"

"Um... Yeah, sure, if you want." I turned to the women from the Fan Club. "Sorry, scary businessman gets precedence. Looks like you guys are gonna have to wait." They left, with much grumbling.

"'Scary businessman'?" The guy asked me.

"Well, you are intimidating. And you are wearing a rather nice suit. On the beach. What's with that?"

He ignored my question with a roll of his eyes. "You said you would create a portrait of my Persian. Do it."

I told the Persian to pose. It lay on the sand like a lion statue in front of a library and I started drawing. The businessman watched me the entire time. While I worked, we made small talk. I told him I was going to become a Pokémon trainer in Sinnoh and that I was going to take the Gym challenge and the Elite Four, and I learned that his name was Giovanni and that he was the superrich owner of a huge corporation.

"I'm finished," I said as I shaded the last bit of the jewel on Persian's forehead. "I hope it's good enough...?"

The Persian came over. "_Well done,_" she purred, "_you captured my looks very well._"

I nodded my thanks as I pulled the picture out of my sketchbook and handed it to Giovanni. He nodded.

"Well done." He handed me a bag and walked away.

I hefted the bag. It clinked. "Holy crap, what is this?"

Giovanni didn't answer. He was already gone. I looked in the bag and saw what I assumed was money.

"Huh. I thought I told him I don't charge for portraits."

Suddenly, one of the women from the Fan Club earlier poked her head around an umbrella. "Is he gone?" She whispered. I nodded slowly, bemused. Had she been here the whole time?

She suddenly whistled, and all the other women came back down the beach to request portraits. All at once, and loudly.

I spent the rest of the day on the beach drawing Pokémon and got through about half of the people there. I told the rest to be at the beach the next day in the morning and I would start on their Pokémon.

The next day, I was up early and at the beach in a few minutes. I noticed that the people from yesterday seemed to have multiplied into a crowd of people.

When I was closer to the crowd, I called "Does anyone know when the boat to Canalave City leaves?"

"Twelve noon," someone told me.

"Okay, it's eight now, so I should be able to finish about seven portraits. So I'll do you, and you..." I pointed out seven people. "The rest of you, sorry, but scram!" Most of the crowd dispersed.

I pulled my sketchbook and pencils out of my backpack and got to work. By eleven thirty, I had six people's portraits finished, and was just putting the last few details on another one when I saw Giovanni heading towards the boat docks. I didn't pay much attention; it was just something I caught out of the corner of my eye.

I finished the ears, handed the picture to the Pokémon's owner, packed up my pencils and sketchbook and left the beach, heading to the docks where I could board the boat to Sinnoh. When I got to the docks, the first person I saw was Giovanni. I tried to avoid him, since I didn't really want to speak to him. He spotted me, but he just nodded and continued talking with the person he'd been talking to before.

Soon, it was time to board the boat. I was getting more and more excited with each minute that passed. I was finally on my way to being a Pokémon trainer!

* * *

**A/N**: Here we go, another chapter! You guys are lucky, my update times aren't usually this quick. And by the way, my poll for my OC's starter Pokémon is up on my profile! You can also vote in the reviews. Here are the choices:

Taillow

Sandshrew

Farfetch'd

Growlithe

Aipom

Houndour

Electrike

Tangela

Wingull

Okay, you guys have four days to vote before I write the next chapter! Vote in the poll or the reviews, they both count.

Also, just in case anyone is confused, I'm going to explain a few things about the background for this story. **During the Battle of Hogwarts, everything went as it did until the point that Harry spoke to Dumbledore while he was unconscious in the Forest. When Harry mentioned to Dumbledore that they appeared to be in King's Cross Station and Dumbledore explained that he could leave, Harry was so sick of fighting Voldemort that he chose to leave. He 'took a train'and ended up in the Pokémon World, where he became a trainer and took the Sinnoh Gym Challenge. He succeeded and became the Sinnoh Champion. When Harry left, his prophecy was not destroyed, meaning that he still needed to be the one to kill Voldemort. Since he left, a new prophecy was created that said that someone needed to be sent to where Harry was and bring him back to the Wizarding World to defeat Voldemort once and for all. The person who this second prophecy referred to was the main character of this story.**

I hope that helps explain the events of the story up until now.

That is all. Review, vote, and make a humble authoress happy!


	4. The Journey of a Thousand Miles

Chapter 4

The Journey of a Thousand Miles...

I looked out over the water. I loved being in boats: the spray, the wind, the reflection of the sun off the water, and that bird. Hold on a minute... I looked again and saw a little white shape coming towards me. It looked like it wanted to hit me or something.

I ducked as it got closer and it glided over me. "_Hey!__"__It__ called. The voice sounded female, and pretty young. __She looked like a regular W__ingull, but the bands on her wings and the ends of her tail feathers were green, not blue. __"__I just wanted to land on your head! Ducking away from an honest Wingull is pretty rude!__" She swooped around for another pass. As she approached, I checked if there was anyone near me to hear me talk to her. There wasn't._

_"Don't you think it's a little rude just to come up and sit on someone's head without asking? I mean, what if I didn't want you to sit on my head and get your little feet tangled in my hair?" I ducked again as she passed me once more._

"_Well, I __guess __you have a point__...__" She conceded as she turned again. "__Can I sit on your head, then?__"_

_"I guess so... I've never really had a bird sitting on my head. Be careful."_

_"__Yay!__"__She settled into position. Then she wiggled around a bit. "__I've never sat on a person's head before! This is comfy! Can I stay with you?__"_

_"Sure," I muttered, somewhat embarrassed. Wouldn't you be embarrassed to have a bird sitting on your head?  
_

I heard a chuckle from behind me and turned slowly, to avoid scaring the Wingull on my head. A crewman was laughing.

"Now that's something you don't see everyday," he said. "Most Wingull aren't interested in people. What'd you do?"

"I didn't do anything. It's just sitting on my head." The Wingull gave a squawk of protest.

"_It?!_" She cried. "_I'm an it? I am a girl, thank you very much!_"

I nodded a little, just a tiny bob of my head, which I knew the sailor wouldn't notice, but the Wingull would. "Anyway... Do you know any way I might be able to get it off my head?"

"Well, you could just try running around, see if it scares off."

"Thanks." I started running across the deck. The Wingull squawked angrily.

"_Hey, I'm sittin' here!_" She cried. "_Do you mind?_"

"Get off and sit on the rail," I said quietly to her. "I'll come back over in a bit."

"_Oh, okay._" She opened her wings and flapped away, only to turn and sit on the ship's rail.

I looked around for people. Seeing none, I headed over to where Wingull was sitting.

"So you want to stay with me, eh?"

"_Yep! Can I sit on your head again?_"

"Maybe later."

"_Why are you on a boat, anyway? Don't you know flying's the best way to get around?_"

"I don't have wings."

"_I thought most trainers keep a Flying-type Pokémon with them all the time._"

"I'm not a trainer yet. I'm going to start soon, though."

"_Cool! Can I be your first Pokémon? I'll do really good, I promise!_"

"Well... Okay. I guess you can be my starter Pokémon."

"_Yeah! I get to go on an adventure!_" She puffed out her chest importantly. "_Are ya gonna give me a name?_"

"Sure. How about... Sydney?"

"_I like it!_" She took off and corkscrewed over my head. "_Sydney the Wingull and... What's your name?_"

"Evey Pike."

"_Sydney the Wingull and Evey Pike! Pokémon and trainer extraordinaire!_" She landed back on the railing. "_I like this idea! I'm so excited!_"

"So am I." I noticed a shape coming up ahead. "What is that?"

"_I don't know. I'll go check it out!_" Sydney took off and flew towards the shape. She returned a few minutes later. "_It's a town! I think we're supposed to be going there_."

Just then, the PA system on the boat turned on. "Passengers, we will be arriving at Canalave City shortly. Please make sure you have all of your belongings and Pokémon with you as you leave."

I picked up my bag as the docks came into sight and held out my arm for Sydney to sit on. She hopped up onto my arm, but instead of settling there, used it to hop onto my head instead. I sighed.

"Guess I'll have to get used to that," I muttered.

I walked down the gangplank into the city, looking around at the buildings. The place was called Canalave _City_, but it was really more like a town. The buildings were, for the most part, small houses and boathouses on the harbour, with the exception of one three-story building with gargoyles out front - gargoyles that vaguely reminded me of those in front of the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts, oddly enough - and the city's Pokémon Gym. I remembered that the Gym was Steel-type. Hmm. That might be a problem later on, when I was taking the Gym challenge. I resolved to get a Fire-type as soon as possible.

I wondered where I should go first, and how I could get to Sandgem Town. I didn't think it was legal to battle Pokémon without a license, so I needed to get there.

"Do you need help?" Came a voice from behind me. I turned to see Giovanni looking at me, slightly amused.

"Uh, yeah... I don't know how to get to Sandgem Town. Would you know how I could get there?"

"I know a man who can send you there."

"Send me?" I didn't like the sound of that.

"The man rents out Bird Pokémon to aspiring Trainers who have no other means of transportation."

"Okay. Where can I find this guy?"

"His house is on the other side of the harbour. Ask for Jared."

"Thanks."

Giovanni walked away, towards the tall building. I could see that the bridge was in that direction, so I headed that way too.

I found Jared's house without too much trouble; it was right in front of the Pokémon Center. When I walked into the house, the first thing I saw was a large blue and white shape come flying towards me. Sydney screeched in fear and hopped off my head. I held my arms up to defend myself-

"No, Sky!" Someone cried, and the hurtling shape swerved away from me. A man in a red button-down shirt and white-splattered blue jeans came into view a second later.

"Sorry about that," he apologized. "I'm still trying to train Sky not to attack people. Most people startle her. She's still pretty fresh. I'm Jared, by the way."

"Evey. Pleasure to meet you." I shook his offered hand, then wiped mine on my pants when he released. He looked puzzled, then glanced at his jeans.

"Oh, that. Those are old stains. I was gonna get rid of these jeans soon anyway. So what are you here for?"

"I need a way to Sandgem."

"New trainer?"

"Not yet. Soon, but not quite."

He nodded. "So, who told you about me? Not a lot of people know about my services."

"Some high-class businessman from Kanto, I think. Name's Giovanni?"

"Oh, Gio! How'd you meet him? He's not exactly the friendliest guy."

"I was doing Pokémon portraits on a beach in Slateport, and he wanted one done of his Persian."

"Cool. So I guess I'd better give you the 'friends of friends' discount?" He winked.

I grinned. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to!"

"Well," he said, "if you're a friend of Gio, you're a friend of mine, so I don't think I'll charge you anyway. Besides, I'm lonely. I've been cooped up in here too long." He sat in a chair. "Take a seat. Just clear the stuff off the good chair." I took some papers and a box off of an armchair and sat.

"So, where are you going? Sandgem?" I nodded. "Right. That's not too far away, so I could... No, maybe that's not a good idea."

"What's not a good idea?" I had a feeling about what he was thinking, and I didn't really like it.

"I could send Sky, but..."

"But what?"

"She's not really experienced. Plus, she's not really a fan of people much."

Sky came up behind Jared's chair and laid her head on the armrest. "_Please, can I go_?" She pleaded softly. "_I'll be good, I promise._"

He stroked her head. "Oh, Sky. I know you want to go, but I just don't think it's a good idea." Her puppy-dog-type look changed his mind. He sighed. "Okay, you can go, but I'm sending mail with you."

"Why?" I asked.

"You can write me a letter and tell me how she did when she drops you off. Sound good to you?"

"Sure." I looked at Sky. "I'm sure she'll do fine."

"All right. Head out back and I'll get Sky ready to go." I walked through his kitchen and out onto the back lawn. The yard was as messy as the house was: overgrown grass, weeds all over the place, and a few little shriveled trees.

"Bachelor housing," I murmured, grinning a bit.

Jared led Sky out a few minutes later with a harness not unlike a horse saddle on her back. "Okay. Hop on," he told me.

I held out my arm for Sydney, who climbed on and hopped up to my head. She dug her feet into my hair. "_Ready_!" She chirped brightly. Jared eyed her with interest.

"That a shiny Wingull you got there? Those are rare. How'd you find her?"

"I was on the boat over here from Hoenn, and she flew up and sat on my head. I couldn't get rid of her, so she's just gonna stick around, I guess."

"Cool."

I climbed onto Sky.

"Hold on," Jared warned. "The launch is the worst part. Go, Sky!"

Sky opened her wings and flapped hard, once, twice, three times. On the fourth flap, we lifted off the ground, then she shot upwards into the sky.

I yelled with fear and a crazy energy; the kind of energy that one can only get when they are being held in the air with the very least support.

"And I thought roller coasters were cool!" I cried.

"_What's a roller coaster?_" Sydney asked.

"It's a big metal machine that people ride on where I come from. They go really fast and usually twist and loop around a lot."

"_That sounds like fun! Can we go on one someday?_"

I smiled. "Maybe someday."

Sky turned her head around a bit and looked at me with interest. "_How does a human learn to understand Pokémon_?"

"It's a gift," I explained. "A Lucario in Slateport told me it was cause I'm a 'hybrid' or something."

Her eye - the one I could see - widened visibly. "_A hybrid? I thought those were an endangered species._"

"We're a separate species?"

"_Not really, it's just a saying._" She focused on me. "_You don't seem much like they told us hybrids were._"

"What did they tell you about hybrids?"

"_For one, that most of them knew details about their condition._" My eyes narrowed. "_Apologies. They told us that hybrids carried themselves like the legends they were supposedly descended from._"

"So it's only a rumour that we're legendaries' descendants?"

"_Yes. Other than that, we were told that they could speak to Pokémon and that they exhibited odd powers, which you don't seem to be able to do._"

"If we were on the ground, I'd show you otherwise, but as it is, there's nothing for me to demonstrate on." I thought Sky's statement over for a moment. My status as a hybrid might explain where my magic came from, since my mom wasn't a witch that I could remember. At least, she never told me about magic. I wasn't sure, and I unfortunately couldn't ask her, since she was dead.

Now that I really thought about it, I had no idea why I had shown up as a half-blood when the Death Eaters gave me Blood Status to get into Hogwarts. I'd never really thought about it - I'd just assumed that either my deceased mother or absent father was magical.

Now that I knew I was a hybrid, though, I gave my dad a little more thought. Maybe the rumours were true, and I was really a legendary Pokemon's daughter? I figured it was my dad who was a legendary, if at all, since my mom probably would have told me about this earlier on in my life. Which brought on the question, why hadn't she told me? Maybe she didn't even know.

This was making my head spin. I abandoned that train of thought and another one occurred to me. "How old are you?" I asked Sky.

"_Older than Jared believes me to be._"

"How do you know so much about hybrids?"

"_It isn't much. Most Pokemon are educated about some lore when they are young. Most of their education depends upon their region of origin. Mine was Hoenn, so aside from learning about hybrids, I also heard tell of the catastrophic battles between our resident legendary Pokemon, Rayquaza, Kyogre, and_ _Groudon._"

"Battles?" I asked, intrigued.

"_Yes, both battles. One battle happened millions of years ago. One happened more recently._"

"Tell me about the recent one, please."

"_Yeah, I wanna know too!_" Sydney interjected from the top of my head.

Sky eyed Sydney disdainfully. "_Did your parents not tell you of the hero who saved the Hoenn region?_"

"_Not yet. They said they'd tell me later, but then Mom got captured by a Trainer, so Dad won't talk much. Tell me!_"

"_Very well. A few years ago, there were two sinister teams of humans assembled, who called themselves Team Magma and Team Aqua..._"

By the time Sky had finished regaling us with the tale of how a young boy named Brendan had, with Rayquaza's help, defeated the two teams, we had almost made it to Sandgem Town.

"_We will be landing in a moment. Hold on tightly; I'm not used to landing with humans on my back._"

I held onto the saddle below me as we descended. The landing ended with me on the ground on my butt anyway, and Sydney wasn't exactly a happy bird.

"_Walk much_?" She grumbled as she untangled her feet from my hair.

"Usually, but it didn't help much when Sky threw me off," I muttered. "Thanks for bringing us here, though."

"_Not a problem. Write your letter to Jared, and I'll be off._" She handed me a piece of paper with cloud designs on it, and a pencil. I wrote a nice little note and gave it back. Sky took off and flew in the general direction of Canalave.

I walked up the beach where we had landed towards a building with a red roof a little distance away.

As I walked into the town, people saw me and pointed at my head. I wasn't sure whether it was because Sydney - who had hopped back up - was shiny, or just because she was sitting on my head. Maybe both.

I came up to the building that I figured was the Professor's lab, and was about to open the door, when a blond-haired teenage boy rudely whacked into me and knocked me onto the ground.

"Hey!" I snapped. "Watch where you're running!"

"Watch where you're standing!" He snapped back. "I've got places to be!"

"Charlie, don't be a jerk!" A teenage girl in a white toque came up beside Charlie and stretched out her hand. I took it and she helped me up. Charlie barreled into the lab.

"Sorry about that," The girl apologized. "Charlie's never been the most careful guy. Takes after his dad."

"You know him long?"

"All my life. We were best friends, now we're rival Pokémon trainers. I beat him every time we battle, though. He's too impatient to raise all his Pokémon properly. Are you a new trainer?"

"As soon as I can get into the lab. Who are you?"

"I'm Dana, and you already met Charlie. We're friends of the Professor. I came to show him my Pokédex. I've got almost every Pokémon on here! What's your name?"

"I'm Evey. So, have you done anything else interesting?"

"Yeah, tons of things. I'll tell you in the lab. I'm sure Professor Rowan will ask me about my adventures anyway."

We entered the lab and an old man came up to Dana immediately. "Good to see you back here again, Dana! I knew you'd go far the moment I handed you that Chimchar four years ago!" Then, he seemed to see me. "Who's this?"

"I'm Evey Pike. I'm here to become a trainer, properly...?"

"Eevee? Like the Pokémon?"

"No, Evey. E - V - E - Y."

"Oh, okay. So what's your first Pokémon going to be? That bird sitting on your head?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you have a Wingull sitting on your head, anyway?" Dana asked. "Where'd you find it?"

"Sydney found me, actually. I was on a boat over here from Hoenn, and she flew over and sat herself down on my head. Not that I'm complaining," I added quickly.

"_Better not be_," she grumbled.

"So, you have a Pokémon. Now all you need is a Pokédex. Hold on one second." Rowan turned around. "Lucas!"

A boy about the same age as Dana and Charlie came running to his side immediately. "Yes, sir?" He asked eagerly.

"This girl needs a Pokédex. Grab her one."

"Got it!" He called, running through a door at the back of the lab.

Dana noticed the amused look on my face. "Lucas has always been very eager. It's helpful when he's doing research in the field, I guess."

"So how have you been, Dana?" Rowan asked. "Last I heard from you, you'd just beaten the Battle Tower challenge with Charlie."

"Yeah, that was a little while ago," she replied. "I went to go face the Pokemon League again a few weeks ago. Guess what? Cynthia retired and there's a new Champion!"

"Really?" Rowan asked, intrigued. "I wasn't aware. What's this new Champion's name? Is he a good trainer?"

"He's really good! He pounded Bane and me flat into the ground! His name's Harry Potter, or something."

Oh, geez. If Harry Potter was really tough, I wondered how strong his Elite Four were. I'd probably be mashed up and tossed out when I tried to take the challenge.

Rowan gave Dana a stern glare. "You didn't try to take the challenge with just Bane, did you?"

She looked at the ground sheepishly. "Yeah," she said apologetically. "I wanted to show him how much I trust him to get things done."

Oh. She had faced him with one Pokémon. I should be fine if I brought six tough Pokemon, then.

"What Pokémon does he have?" I cut Rowan's berating Dana short. "I'm going to take the Elite Four challenge later, so I want to be prepared."

"He has a Garchomp, a Mr. Mime, an Empoleon, a Venusaur, a Crobat, and an Arcanine," Dana recited. "Arcanine's really the one you need to watch out for. It's the one that Harry really pays a lot of attention to."

"Watch out for Arcanine," I repeated. "Got it."

Lucas came rushing back into the room with a bronze and blue palm-size computer with two screens - what I assumed was a Pokédex. "I couldn't find the girl model! We only had this one left!"

"Wow," I muttered. Something must be screwing with me, cause there was no way that my new Pokédex was my house's colours. No chance.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Lucas," Rowan rolled his eyes. He turned to me. "Right?"

"It's great," I said. "Thanks."

"That Pokédex will collect data on every Pokémon you meet. Just open it and point it at the Pokémon, then press this button." He showed me a black button inside the Pokédex. "It will also serve to identify you as a Pokémon trainer. Type your name in." He turned on the Pokédex and handed it to me.

On the bottom screen, a keyboard appeared. I typed my name in. The screen changed to say: 'Welcome, Evey Pike! Your Pokémon journey has begun!'

I pointed the Pokédex at Sydney and pressed the button. The Pokédex beeped, and I looked at the screen. It showed some basic information about the Wingull species. I clicked the button again and Sydney's specific information popped up - moves, age, and how long it would be until she evolved. Moves wise, Sydney knew Water Gun, Supersonic, and Growl. She was only - I looked again. Eight months old. Suddenly, I wasn't sure she should be traveling with me, but it was really too late to leave her behind.

"Well, I guess I'm ready then. I want to get started as soon as I can."

"Aww!" Dana cried. "But you haven't even heard how I beat up Team Galactic yet!"

I turned. "Team Galactic?"

"Yeah. They were this really evil team of bad guys who wanted to use Dialga and Palkia to rewrite time and space... or something like that. Anyway, I beat them and got to meet Giratina!"

"Very cool, but I really do have to go. I'll talk to you later, I guess?"

"Oh, yeah," she replied. Then her eyes lit up. "I know! When you get to Jubilife City, there should be a guy handing out Pokégears. Tell him you know Dana Platinum, and he'll probably give you one. I'll meet you in Oreburgh Town and get your number."

"Sure. Thanks Dana. Thanks Professor." I turned and walked out of the lab. An aide stopped me just before the door and handed me several red-and-white balls.

"You'll need these to catch Pokémon," he said. "To use a Poké ball, just throw it at a weakened Pokémon, and it will be pulled into the ball automatically. You knew that, though, right?"

I left after that little spiel, shaking my head condescendingly.

When I got to the town's edge, I heard a beep from a pocket in my bag. I reached into it, pulled out my Pokédex, and opened it. On the screen, the words 'Registering new data in the Pokédex' appeared. Then it beeped again, and switched to an information screen. When I saw the Pokémon's picture, I gasped. It was Arceus.

The information below his picture wasn't information about Arceus. It was a message, written in capitals:

THE DEATH EATERS HAVE ARRIVED  
THEY HAVE CORRUPTED A POKÉMON  
AND THEY HAVE SENT IT AFTER YOU

"When will it show itself?" I whispered without thinking, half hoping that an answer would show up, and half hoping not. The information box on the 'Dex went blank, then a single word appeared:

SOON

Well, now I knew what to look out for. I shut the Pokédex and walked out of the town, onto the grassy path to the next town.

* * *

**A/N**: Annoying filler chapter is annoying, I know. And I'm sorry for my absence for so long. And I'm sorry that this chapter sucks. But at least she's a proper trainer now, eh? Please forgive me! *Runs from wave of angry readers* EEP! It'll get better soon, I promise!

On the bright side, I'll put up a cover for this story soon. Hope you'll all like it! I drew it myself! Tell me what you think!

Please review? Even though the chapter was boring and annoying? Pretty please?


	5. Begins with the First Step

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Evey, and the colouring for her newest Pokémon. Oh, and their nicknames. They're mine. But not Pokémon. Dang you Nintendo! Give me Pokémon!

* * *

Chapter Five

… Begins with the First Step

"_That Dana girl was kind of weird,_" Sydney told me as I walked down the grassy path to the next town.

"Don't I know it," I agreed. "I have a feeling that she's going to be calling me at least five times a day once she gets my number. Do you think I should still give it to her, or what?"

Sydney thought it over for a moment. "_Give it to her, I think. If knowing her gets you free stuff, then I think a couple of talks is worth it._"

"Guess you're right. You know, for such a young Pokemon, you're pretty smart sometimes."

She puffed out her feathers, satisfied. "_Thank you_!"

I continued down the path. I could see wild Pokemon all around, but none of them bothered us. I felt an odd sense of foreboding, though, like someone was watching us.

It was Sydney who warned me that something was about to strike. "_Evey, behind you_!"

I immediately threw myself to the side, narrowly avoiding a black shape that flew where my head had been a moment ago. Sydney lifted off my head to hover beside me. "_Are you okay_?" She demanded.

"I'm fine. What is that?!"

It was turning to attack us again. Before it leaped, I saw that it looked like a black snake with wings on its head. I moved out of its path as it lunged, then whipped out my Pokédex, pointed, and hit the button. It beeped, and the snake's information popped up on the top screen.

"That's a Dratini?! I thought they were blue!"

"_They are! It has something wrong with it_!"

As the Dratini prepared to lunge again, I reached into my bag, hoping desperately for something useful. My hand fell on my wand, and I knew what I could do.

I whipped it out and pointed it at the Dratini. "Stupefy!" I cried. A jet of red light came from my wand and just missed the Dratini. It lunged at me and knocked my wand out of my hand.

"_I'll help you_!" Sydney cried. She shot a jet of water from her mouth that hit the Dratini in the back of the head. It hissed in pain. Sydney used Water gun again, and the Dratini lay on the ground, not moving.

I picked up my wand, then went over to the Dratini and crouched beside it. "Who sent you?"

"_The cruel people... wearing masks... They had sticks like yours, and they hit me with light that hurt. Then they told me to go after you, and I couldn't stop myself_." The Dratini's voice sounded female, like a young woman's.

"The Imperius," I murmured. "How did you stop it?"

"_Your Wingull's attacks broke me out of my trance. I would have killed you had they not_."

"How did you know where to find me? Do they know my name?"

"_You have a certain... presence, I believe, that they sent me after. I'm not sure how it worked_."

"My magical signature. The one thing I forgot to have Arceus change," I cursed. "Where were they when they found you?"

"_They were at the place humans call the Dragon's Den. They sent me here using another light. I do not believe they know where you are_."

"That's good. That means it'll take them a little while yet to find me." I examined the Dratini more closely. The scales on her back were black, and on her stomach they were a light pink. The tiny wings on her head were pink as well, and the little nub on her forehead was white. "Are you coloured like that naturally?"

"_Yes. Many humans have attempted to capture me for my colouring, but none were worthy of my loyalty. Your bravery in facing me in my altered state, however, has proven to me that you would make a very good trainer. You may capture me, if you would like._"

"I will. Should I name you?"

"_If you wish_."

I thought about a name for a few moments, then settled on a good one. "I'll call you Inuise, cause I heard somewhere that your species is tough to find, and Inuise means 'unseen'."

"_I like this name. I believe I will enjoy having you as my trainer_."

"I think I'll like having you as a Pokémon." I took out a Poké ball and tapped her nose with it. She turned into a flash of red light and disappeared into the ball.

I looked at Sydney. "Why won't you just calmly go into a Poké ball?"

"_Cause it's small and dark_."

"I'd bring you back out again right away. Putting you in a Poké ball just means another trainer can't capture you if they toss a ball at you."

"_… Fine. But only for a minute._"

"I know," I sighed. I pulled out another Poké ball and tapped her the wing. She disappeared into it. I waited until the button on the ball pinged, then pressed it and let Sydney out.

"_That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I guess. But I'm not doing it again!_"

"Fine, you won't have to." I kept walking down the path towards the city I could see in the distance, which I assumed was Jubilife. I reached it about ten minutes later.

As soon as I walked into the city, I was bombarded by a salesperson. "Hello!" He cried. "You look like a Pokémon trainer. Do you know what it is all Pokémon trainers need?" He didn't give me time to answer before he yelled "A Pokégear! Every good Pokémon trainer needs a Pokégear! They start at 3000 Pokédollars! Will you buy one?"

"Oh, you're the Pokégear guy. My friend Dana Platinum told me to talk to you."

The man's eyes bugged out. "You know Dana Platinum? Let me guess, she told you I'd give you a free gear if you told me you know her." I nodded. "Well, she was right. Here you go!"

He held out an assortment of little phone-like objects, in a veritable rainbow of colours. "Pick your favourite!"

Sydney, from her perch on my head, pointed out a pink and green one. "_Pick that one_!" She demanded. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, I'll have that one," I pulled it out of the man's hands.

"Good choice!" He left.

"Nice colour choice," I grumbled to Sydney. "I feel like a little girl with this gear."

"_It's pretty_," she argued. "_It looks like me and Inuise_."

I rolled my eyes again and walked around just looking around at the city. I'd been to London, and I'd been to Toronto, Canada before my mom and I moved to England, but these buildings were way cooler. They were more often than not decorated with Pokémon murals and pictographs, rather than rude graffiti. The window displays in the stores I saw were cool too - showcasing gear for Pokémon journey, clothes, furniture, and once, a bunch of Pokémon accessories.

At some point, I came across a small clothing store. It looked like it didn't get much traffic, but that might have been because it was new - there was a banner over the door proclaiming its grand opening. I walked inside.

"Hey there!" The brightly-clothed girl at the front desk said to me. "You're pretty luck for walking in here."

I raised my eyebrows. "Am I? How am I lucky for walking through a door?"

"Cause by walking through that door, you earned yourself an outfit free. It's a grand opening special."

"Any conditions?"

"We get to pick your clothes, and if you don't like 'em, then we're not picking a new outfit. Just one outfit per customer." She looked at Sydney. "We'll pick an accessory for your Pokémon too, if you want. Wanna give it a try?"

I looked at Sydney, thinking. "Sure. We'll give it a shot."

"Great! Follow me!" The attendant led us to the back of the store, to the teenager's section, and started going through the racks. She looked at me occasionally, and muttered things under her breath as she sorted through the clothes. I just shared an amused glance with Sydney while she muttered.

Finally, after almost fifteen minutes of searching, she handed me a pile of clothes and pointed me to a change room. "Go try those on," she commanded.

I shut the door to the tiny room and looked at the clothes in the stack. I shrugged, put Sydney down on the bench (not facing me) and changed quickly.

Once I put it all on, I looked in the mirror. The attendant had given me some pretty good-looking attire - a pair of black jeans, boot-cut; a green-and-white striped shirt; a pair of black running shoes; black gloves with half-fingers; a dark blue ball cap; and, to top it off, a black jacket made of a smooth, supple material. I loved the outfit. Looking in the mirror, I thought I really looked like a proper trainer.

"You can look now, Sydney," I told her. She turned, and her beak dropped open.

"_Wow! You look like a serious Pokémon trainer, Evey! You need to keep those clothes_!"

"No, of course I'm not going to keep them," I said sarcastically, with a joking grin on my face. "Why would I do that?"

"_That's really funny_," she muttered. "_Really witty_."

"Lighten up a bit," I chuckled. "Here, let's see what she picked out for you."

On the bench beside Sydney sat a red bandana, which I assumed I was supposed to tie around her neck, so I did so. Then it was Sydney's turn to admire herself in the mirror.

"_I like it_!" She decided.

We told the attendant that we were going to keep the clothing, and left after she wished us a good day. I decided that it was a good time to start heading in the direction of Oreburgh City, so I headed in the direction of the path to the next city.

* * *

Two hours later, I finally came to the tunnel mentioned on my map. "See, I told you we'd find it if we kept going this way!"

"_Hmph_," Sydney sniffed."_Never trust a map if you're ever traveling, that's what my dad said. Always go by what you see from the air._"

"Well, your dad's never used a map, has he? So, he wouldn't know if a map was accurate or not. Therefore, you shouldn't always go by what your parents say."

"_They have more experience than you_," she retorted.

"Well, I would have learnt from my mistakes anyway. And besides, why are you complaining? You hardly even looked around before you told me where to go!"

"_Geez, don't get your little human fingers in a twist. You were right, I was wrong. Happy_?"

I sighed good-naturedly. Having Sydney around was fun, but the little bird could be pretty exhausting sometimes. Add that to the fact that I hadn't eaten since we left Jubilife, and I wasn't the happiest of people. I just wanted to get to Oreburgh, have some dinner, and rest awhile before taking on the Gym Leader.

"_Anyway_," Sydney finished, breaking into my thoughts, "_once we get through this tunnel, we'll be in the town, I think_."

"Great, we can get some dinner." I ran for the tunnel as fast as I could.

A man dressed in hiking clothing stopped me just inside the tunnel. "Hey, kid!" He greeted. "I bet you can use this." He handed me a little disc, brown-orangeish in colour. "That's Rock Smash. If you teach it to your Pokémon, they can break weak rocks. But you have to have the Oreburgh Gym Badge to use it outside of battle."

"Okay... Thanks. How to I use it?"

"It's easy. Just put it on your Pokémon's head and it'll learn the move."

I raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Just like that?"

"Yep! Pretty cool, huh?"

"...Sure. Thanks." I put the disc in my bag and the man left. I headed through the tunnel towards the exit on the other side. Before I could leave the cave, though, I was stopped by a little boy in a green uniform.

"Hey!" He stopped me. "I saw you! We have to battle now!"

I shrugged. "If you're sure, kid." We moved apart, and the boy took a Poké ball off his belt, then tossed it in the air. "Go, Shinx!" A little blue dog-thing with a yellow star on its tail came out of the ball and landed on the ground. "It's a one-on-one battle," the boy announced. "Send out your Pokémon."

I glanced up. "Sydney, you want to battle?"

She flew off my head and landed in front of me. "_Sure! I haven't done anything all day_!"

The boy looked at Sydney with interest. "Cool Wingull. Shinx, Tackle!"

The Pokémon leapt for Sydney, who fluttered out of the way quickly. "Water Gun!" I commanded. She shot a jet of water at the Shinx, who couldn't quite get away fast enough. He was knocked away from Sydney a bit.

"Tackle it hard, Shinx!" The boy cried. The Pokémon was up, and had knocked into Sydney before she could lift a wing. "Again!"

"Sydney!" I cried, worried about the little bird. She got back up and dodged the second tackle. "Water Gun!"

She fired, missed, fired again, and got a solid hit on his flank. "Tackle, one last time!" The Shinx's trainer cried desperately.

Gathering its remaining strength, the little dog rushed at Sydney and knocked her over. She tried to get up one last time, but couldn't manage it.

"Battle's over! I win!" The bow crowed. He called back his Shinx. I ran over to Sydney and picked her up, ignoring her protests of "_I'm fine_!"

I walked over to my opponent. "Good battle. I guess we need to work a little more."

"Yeah, it was a good battle. I didn't think your Wingull would last that long - my Shinx is pretty tough," the boy bragged.

I headed off to the exit of the tunnel after shaking hands with the little boy. When I came out of the tunnel, the first face I saw was Dana's. I groaned inwardly.

"Hey Evey!" She called chirpily, then noticed Sydney. "What happened?"

"Had a battle, didn't quite win. She's okay, I think. Just needs a Pokémon Center."

"Oh, okay. So, did you get a Pokégear?"

I nodded and pulled it out. She squealed when she saw it. "It's so pretty! I love the colour! Here, let me give you my number." She took it from me and programmed her number into the phone's memory. "There! Now we can call each other anytime!"

"Yup. Man, I'm hungry. I haven't eaten all day."

"I know a great restaurant," Dana offered. "Let's go drop your Wingull off at the Center, and I'll buy you dinner. And you _have_ to tell me where you got those clothes. They're so awesome!"

I shook my head amusedly while Dana grabbed my hand and dragged me to the Pokémon Center, chattering happily all the way.

* * *

**A/N**: Hey, look, I updated! And only like a week after the last one! I'm so proud of myself. *rubs away tear of joy* So, yeah. First battle, new clothes, and another attack of Dana the annoying. Woohoo. Oreburgh Gym battle next chapter. I'm excited. They'll train a bit first, obviously, but we'll see Roark, and some Inuise fighting next one. Stay tuned.

I chose to put the Pokégear in this story rather than the Pokétch because I didn't like how you couldn't call anyone in Platinum and the other one. Plus, I like the idea of the Pokégear better, and it saves me from having to write "I pulled out my town map" every so often. Besides, where would I get a town map, since Evey doesn't have a rival, and we've already left Jubilife. So yeah.

Also, there won't be a whole lot of exploration of caves or paths, simply because Evey has no time to waste: the Death Eaters have proven themselves willing to kill her if they find her, so she has to move as quickly as possible. As well, the TM teaching process is taken from shaky memories of the same process from FireRed and LeafGreen (shaky cause I never actually played those ones; I had Emerald. And Platinum. And Yellow. I had a lot of the third edition games), since they never actually mention TMs in the anime.

Please review! Even though my author's notes are long and tedious, and so is my overuse of dialogue. I know. But review anyway!


	6. Rocking Oreburgh Hard

**A/N**:Right now, Sydney is around level seven, and Inuise is about level eleven. After the training session, they're both about level thirteen. Forgot that last chapter.

Disclaimer: I own Evey, and her Pokémon's names. Dana was also the name of one of my characters from my Emerald version, but here she's the Platinum player.

* * *

Chapter Six

Rocking Oreburgh Hard

After we had dinner at Dana's favourite restaurant - the Boulder Lounge - I got some sleep at the Pokémon Center. Sydney was fine in Nurse Joy's care; she had only had a few bruises, apparently, and those were easily fixed. Dana agreed to stick around in Oreburgh and help us train for the Gym battle, using some of her younger Pokémon.

"Again, Sydney. Water Gun!" I commanded. We were working on her aim. Sydney could put some good force behind her moves, but she had a tough time actually getting them to hit.

She shot a jet of water at a target we had painted on the wall of Oreburgh Gate - we'd decided to train there, since Roark's Gym apparently looked similar as far as obstacles went. The water hit right near dead center of the target - she really was improving. Inuise was watching her shoot from the side.

"_Nicely done_," she complimented. I'd been working with Inuise earlier, getting to know her moves - she knew Wrap, Leer, Thunder Wave, and Twister. She had good accuracy, and she was quick to follow my commands, but she was a little lacking in power. I supposed that would come with time.

"Yeah, Sydney! Nice shot!" Dana cheered. I'd unfortunately found out that Dana was one of those people who had boundless energy in the morning when she'd dragged me out of bed at six to go train. I hated morning people. So did Sydney, apparently, since she'd been muttering abuse at Dana until I quietly told her off.

"I think you're ready for a mock battle. Dana?"

"Right." She pulled out a Poké ball. "Go, Geodude!" A rock with arms solidified out of the light from the ball.

"Sydney, confuse it with Supersonic!" I called. She opened her mouth and let out a bunch of little chirpy noises that seemed to come from all directions. The Geodude wasn't sure what to listen to and was confused.

"Water Gun!" The jet of water slammed into the Geodude and knocked it into a rock.

"C'mon, Geodude! Tackle it!" The Geodude looked around unsurely, then threw itself forward... into a rock.

"Okay, Sydney, let's finish this. Water Gun!" I cried passionately. She fired, missed, and fired again, hitting the Geodude square in the face, knocking it out.

"_Woo! I did it_!" Sydney flew over me and slapped my outstretched hand with her foot, like a high five. "_And I only missed once_!"

"Great job," I told her. "I think we're ready to face Roark. After lunch, of course," I added, checking the clock on my Pokégear.

"_Yeah, lunch_!" Sydney settled herself on my head as usual. Inuise slithered over to me, and I picked her up and she wrapped herself around my neck like a scarf. I followed Dana, who had recalled her Geodude and was eagerly waiting for us, out of the cave to a little café.

After lunch, we had to go shopping for all of the the supplies I would need for a little while, which, as you might guess, was a huge affair. At first, Dana ran around the shelves, grabbing everything she thought I might need. It took me almost ten minutes to convince her that I didn't need two tents and four sleeping bags - "I don't have anyone to come with me." "What if you meet someone?" "They'll probably have their own stuff anyway" - but in the end, I won. I put away most of the stuff she'd picked out - who needed a 'fireplace in a box' for their tent, anyway? - and took the stuff that I actually did really need. I wanted to pay for it myself, but Dana insisted on buying, which kind of irked me, but she said she had more money than she really knew what to do with at the moment. So, I let her buy my stuff anyway.

After that, it was finally time to challenge Roark. We headed to the gym. Standing outside it, I experienced a huge bout of nerves. "What if we can't do it?" I whispered.

"You'll do fine," Dana soothed. "I know you can do it. Just believe in yourself and your Pokémon!" Without further ado, she pushed me into the gym.

"That's really helpful, Dana," I muttered. "Everyone says, 'Oh, believe in yourself', but really-"

"Who's there?" A young man's voice asked. I placed the voice at maybe seventeen to twenty years old.

"I'm Evey Pike. I came here to challenge Roark for the Coal Badge!"

"Nice to meet you, Evey." The owner of the voice came into view. He was wearing a grey work uniform with yellow trim, and a red hard hat with a miner's light on it. He wore his brown hair long. "I'm Roark, leader of Oreburgh Gym." He looked at Dana. "Good to see you again, Dana."

"H-hi Roark!" She stammered, blushing slightly. I wondered if she had a crush on him. He wasn't bad-looking, I guess.

He focused his attention on me again. "Alright. You're here to battle, so let's lay down some ground rules. This will be a two-on-two match, since you have two Pokémon. You can switch them out at any time, but you can only use one item per Pokémon. Understand?" I nodded and went to stand in the challenger's box on the gym floor, and Dana went to sit in the bleachers on the side.

"Sydney, start us off." She flapped down off my head to stand on a rock.

"Go, Geodude!" Roark called, tossing a Poké ball.

"Supersonic!" I ordered, right off the bat, just as Roark yelled, "Rock Throw!" Sydney hopped out of the rocks' path and started chirping. Like before, the sounds confused Geodude.

"Now Water Gun!"

"Geodude, watch out!" Roark cried, but it was too late. The water attack sent the humanoid boulder flying. It stopped itself by dragging its hands over the ground. "Now Stealth Rock!"

Geodude appeared to have shrugged off its confusion, because the sharp stones it threw actually went in Sydney's direction. She ducked behind a rock to dodge, and Geodude followed. As it passed her rock, she shot a jet of water at it, which hit its fist and sent it spinning away.

"Now finish it off with Water Gun!" Roark's Pokémon fainted with the next attack.

"Looks like I underestimated you a bit," Roark observed. "I won't do that again. Go, Cranidos!"

"Sydney, come back! I'm gonna let Inuise take this one!" I called Inuise out of her Poké ball.

"Cranidos, Headbutt!"

"Watch out!" Inuise dodged the charging dinosaur. "Now use Twister!"

She kicked up a small tornado, that picked up small pieces of debris off of the gym floor and hurled them at Cranidos. It couldn't get out of the way fast enough, and it was knocked over by a small rock to the head.

The little Pokémon got to its feet barely a second later. "Cranidos, Pursuit!" Roark called. The dinosaur charged at Inuise, who couldn't move fast enough. She was knocked backwards into a rock.

"Inuise!" I cried, worried.

"_I'm fine. Let us continue_!"

"Wrap Cranidos up!"

She quickly surrounded her smaller opponent, coiling and squeezing her body.

"Headbutt!" Roark ordered. Cranidos flailed his head around, trying to catch Inuise, but failed.

"Paralyze it with Thunder Wave!" Inuise released some sparks from the node on her forehead, which immobilized Cranidos. "Now let's finish this battle with Twister!"

The resulting tornado of debris was enough to knock Cranidos into a rock, headfirst. It slid to the ground in a dead faint.

"You did it!" Dana cheered, running down from the stands. "i knew you could win!"

Roark came up behind her and extended his hand, which held a box. "Nice battle. It's a little embarrassing that I lost to a rookie trainer, but it'll happen. Here's your badge for this gym, the Coal Badge!" He handed me the box, and then rooted around in his pocket for something. He handed me a brown disc. "This is Stealth Rock. It's a move that sets rocks around the opponent's Pokémon."

"Thank you."

"Just a friendly warning: the other Sinnoh Gym Leaders are a lot tougher than me." He focused on Dana. "It was good to see you again. Maybe we'll meet at the Battleground for a battle sometime."

"Yeah, sure! Anytime!" Dana told him a little squeakily.

* * *

Dana and I parted at the Jubilife exit of Oreburgh Gate. She'd explained to me that I had to get to the next town, Eterna City, by way of Floaroma Town, which was north of Jubilife City. It sounded like an awful lot more walking than necessary, but that was all part of the Pokémon trainer experience, I guess.

"I'll call you all the time to see how you're doing and stuff, but I really need to get home. I promised my mom that I'd take a month off traveling and stay with her."

"Yeah, I understand. I'll be fine. Talk to you later, okay?"

Dana flew off on her Staraptor, who she called Ace. I watched her go, almost breathing a sigh of relief.

"You know, I'm kind of glad she's not coming with us. I don't think I could stand her personality for more than two days without wanting to set something on fire," I remarked to Sydney.

"_Me neither,_" she agreed. "_By the way, I wanted to ask you something, and I think Inuise wants to know too._"

"Okay..." I called Inuise out of her Poké ball to walk beside me while we talked. "What's up?"

"_Well, you remember when we first met Inuise, before she was called that, and she was trying to attack us? What was that stick thing that you pulled out? And how did you make that light come out of it? Are you like a Pokémon_?" Sydney babbled.

"Slow down a bit, I can barely understand you. Listen. I'm going to tell you everything, but I need you to _promise _to keep this quiet. No one can know except the Pokémon who join us, okay?" The two nodded. "Good. Okay. Where do I start?... I guess with the basics. The stick I pulled out was called a wand. I'm not a Pokémon, but using that wand, I can do magic."

"_What's magic_?" Sydney interrupted.

"Magic is... It's like a power. Where I come from, there are some people who can use magic to do almost 're called wizards."

"_What about that funny word you said_?"

"That was a spell. Spell are words that wizards use to do magic. There are a bunch of these words, and they all have a different effect. I could set that bush over there on fire if I wanted to. I could knock someone out."

"_So using your powers rely on speaking these words_," Inuise interjected. "_Your abilities are limited by the number of words you know, then._" I nodded. "_What if you were gagged or unable to speak? Would you be unable to use magic_?"

"Some wizards can use magic without saying the words out loud. I can do a few spells, but that's more of an advanced skill."

"_Where do you learn all this magic stuff_?" Sydney asked.

"There's a school where I come from where kids with magical powers learn how to use them properly. My school's called Hogwarts."

Sydney snickered. "_That's a funny name._"

"Yeah, it is," I agreed.

"_Why did you leave your school? Why did you come here, if you still have things to learn_?" Inuise questioned.

"That's a long story, but I guess we have time for it. It all started about twenty or so years ago, when an evil wizard who everyone calls - or doesn't call, since they're too scared of him - anyway, he's called Lord Voldemort..."

I told the two the story while we walked towards Jubilife - how Voldemort tried to take over the wizarding world, how Harry Potter stopped him, and then how Harry mysteriously disappeared during his final battle with Voldemort. By the time the story was over, we had just started to walk down the path to Floaroma Town.

"Any other questions?"

"_You still didn't really tell us why you left... I mean, I know this Voldem guy is bad, and it's awesome to be with Pokémon, but what are you doing here_?" Sydney asked.

"Voldemort. And I'm here to find Harry and bring him back to the wizarding world, to stop Voldemort once and for all."

"_But you said he disappeared and no one knows where he is._" The little bird was obviously getting confused.

"I came here by accident, but when I got here, I found out that Harry Potter is the Champion of the Sinnoh League."

"_So you decided to do what many other young children do: become a Pokémon Trainer and challenge the Elite Four_," Inuise deduced.

"Yep. So now, I'm traveling with two very quirky Pokémon all around a small country to find some guy and bring him somewhere else so he can defeat an evil, powerful mastermind." I looked the two in the eye and grinned. "So, do I sound crazy enough yet?"

"_You sounded crazy when you agreed to let a bird land on your head_!" Sydney quipped. "_You don't get much crazier than that_!"

"Not much," I agreed.

* * *

**A/N**: So, the truth comes out: Evey is a witch. Oh boy, what's going to happen next?! That's for me to know and you to agonize over!

I'm going to reply to some anonymous reviews I've received for this story, starting with Chapter One.

Bob: Glad to know it's okay.

Nukenin: I have no way of knowing! O_o Glad to know that Dratini wasn't too out there. I was a little worried about it, but good to know that it doesn't bother people. The poll for the starter Pokémon was actually a tie between Wingull and Houndour, so I'm thinking that we might have a Houndour to join in on the fun ;). The Magikarp guy... Maybe. If I see an opportunity to put him in, I'll do it, I think. Thanks for the nice words!

Dad: I'm glad you know how to comment. No, you may not have a Pokégear. And I love you too.

Please review! I'll respond to anything in a calm, collected manner, even flames. And anonymous reviews are welcome! Just type the comment into that little box down there, and hit the button! Easy!


	7. New Friend, Old Chateau

**A/N**: I love Christmas break. It means I get more writing time! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I own Evey, Sydney's name, Inuise's name, and the Pokémon trainer person who comes in later. Other than that, I got nothin'.

* * *

Chapter Seven

New Friend, Old Chateau

By the time we got to Floaroma Town, it was sunset, so we decided to explore a little bit in the morning and just get dinner and go to bed. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant called "Through The Field Diner" - their veggie burgers left a little to be desired, but they made a delicious salad - and fell asleep at a room in the Pokémon Center.

The next morning, we were up pretty early, around eight. Sydney and I wanted to explore the shops and other features of the town, including the field that it was so famous for, while Inuise decided that she'd rather sleep a while longer in her Poké ball. We went to the flower shop first, where I received a watering can from one of the girls and two berries from another.

"You can plant those berries in soft soil! If you water them, they'll grow into a tree that has more berries!"

"What are berries for?" I asked.

"Some berries can heal Pokémon status problems or wounds. Some of them can be made into Poffins to feed to Pokémon to prepare them for Contests."

"Cool. Thanks!"

Next, we shopped around a little bit. We didn't need any supplies, but I wanted to get something little for Inuise, like an accessory or something. In the second shop we went into, I found a green collar to go around her neck. The shopkeeper assured me that it would grow with her as she got bigger and evolved. After asking her opinion of it, I bought the collar and put it around Inuise's neck. She liked it.

After our short shopping trip, Sydney and I decided we'd go see the fabled field of flowers near Floaroma before we continued on towards Eterna City.

The field was humongous. It was a small hill that was brightly coloured with flowers of all shades - from a blue so dark it was nearly black, to white, to a lemon yellow colour, to a red that could have been used for a stop sign. The smell of the flowers was so powerful, I knew I'd have difficulty ever forgetting it.

Sydney, after rolling around on the hill for a little while, pointed out her favourite flower to me - a bright yellow rose.

"_It looks like the sun when you're flying over the ocean on a really clear day, like when there aren't any clouds in the sky and you can see everything._"

"That's great, Sydney," I said a little absentmindedly. I was staring at a certain white flower I saw growing underneath a tree near the top of the hill. _Could it... I haven't seen one of those since..._

I ran closer to the flower, a little alarmed. It was the flower that I thought it was: a lily of the valley.

"I haven't seen one of these since... since I was seven," I murmured, trying desperately not to cry. "I... oh!" I lost the battle with my tears and fell to my knees, cradling my face in my hands.

"_Evey! What's wrong_?" Sydney was frantic. "_Are you hurt? What is it_?"

"I-I just... That flower. It reminds me of my mom."

Sydney hesitated a little bit, probably not sure what to say. "_You miss her_?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I miss her a lot. I haven't seen her since I was seven."

"_Why not? What happened_?"

"She... she died. My house burned down, and she couldn't get out in time."

"_I'm so sorry! Evey... I'm sorry._"

"Not your fault. I just... I miss her so much. After she died... I had to go to an orphanage, 'cause my dad wasn't there."

"_Will you tell me about it? Maybe it'll make you feel better_," Sydney suggested gently.

"Yeah, I guess I could tell you about it... Not much to tell, really." Sydney settled herself on my knee, her warm weight already helping me feel a little better. "I never really knew my dad. My mom told me that he left after I was born, promising that he'd be back for me sometime... He never came back. Mom raised me alone. When I was three or four, we moved to another country. Mom told me it was because our old house reminded her too much of my dad. She really loved him. She didn't really get over the fact that he left.

"So I grew up in this other country with my mom, until I was seven. Then the fire happened." My face hardened in pain. "My mom went back into the house to get something - I think it was pictures of my dad - and she never came back out.

"My life got worse after that. I got sent to a home for kids who didn't have any parents, and it was miserable. I got beaten up sometimes, because I was weird. I was a dreamer. I'd always be alone, in a tree, writing a story or just talking to myself. I think it scared the other kids, so they beat me up.

"Then, four years after my mom died, I got a letter. Turns out, the letter was from Hogwarts, so I started going to school there when I was eleven. And... three years after that, I ended up here."

"_And met us! And now you're happy... Right_?" She looked at me sympathetically, which bothered me for a second - I don't like people pitying me - until I remembered that she was my friend and wanted to help.

I smiled at her through the tears that were still dripping down my face. "Yeah. I'm definitely happier now. C'mere, you silly bird." I pulled her into a hug and she reached her wings as far as she could around my torso.

We hugged for a little while - I bet that was a pretty silly sight, seeing a tiny bird hug a person - then I asked, "Should we go, or do you want to stay a while?"

"_We should go. To Eterna City_!"

She started flying, away from Floaroma Town and, I assumed, towards Eterna. I chuckled at her excitement and ran to catch up.

A few minutes later, Sydney swooped back down and took her place on my head. "_Hey, Evey_?"

"What's up?"

"_Did your mom ever tell you your dad's name_?"

"She told me it was Edward Pike. My mom was named Jane Hampton. They never got married, but my mom left my last name as Pike because I apparently looked and acted more like dad than I acted like her."

"_That's a cool name. Do you know anything else about your dad_?"

"Mom told me that he was basically a genius. He always seemed to almost read her mind, too, she said. He was kind of antisocial - he didn't like people much. And after he met her, if someone hurt her, he could be really vicious. Apparently a good fighter - I don't know how she learned that - and protective, too. And he had the weirdest eyes, too; purple or something like that."

"_Cool. Do you ever wish you could meet him? What would you say to him_?"

"I wish I could meet him, face to face... and punch his," I said bitterly. "I'd tell him that mom died while she was waiting for him, and I'd tell him just how mad I was that he didn't keep his _promise_!" Working myself into a state, I lashed out and punched a nearby tree, then winced at the pain in my split knuckles.

"_Evey, calm down! It's okay. You don't have to punch a tree. Maybe we'll meet him somewhere, and I'll give him a piece of my mind, too_!"

I smiled a bit. Sydney knew just how to make me feel better. "Thanks, Sydney."

We continued walking, talking a little bit about inconsequential things, until I heard a shout behind us.

"Hey!" Yelled a boy, coming right up to us. The boy had dirty blond, shoulder length hair, deep brown eyes, and by the looks of it, a bad case of insomnia. The kid looked to be about fourteen to fifteen years old, but he was pretty tall - about five feet ten inches to six feet by a rough guess, and lean, with skinny arms. He wore purple pants, a black t-shirt, and a green jacket, with purple fingerless gloves. I wondered what he wanted.

"I want to challenge you to a match! You look like a tough trainer."

"Let's go, then. One-on-one Pokémon?"

"Sure."

We backed up to make room for a battlefield. The boy pulled out a plain Poké ball.

"Let's go, Tricks!" He threw the Poké ball and sent out a little ghost-looking Pokémon. I checked the Pokédex, which told me that the Pokémon was a Shuppet.

"You're up, Sydney!" She flew out to meet the Shuppet on the battlefield.

"Let's start it off with a Supersonic!" I called. She released clicks from her beak, which evidently messed with Shuppet, because the puppet Pokémon started floating around in aimless circles.

"C'mon, Tricks! Night Shade!" A shadow was extended around Shuppet that was apparently meant to hurt Sydney, but it did nothing.

"Water Gun!" I ordered, and Sydney released a jet of water that struck Shuppet in the head, knocking it back. The Shuppet straightened itself out mid-flight, then resumed its aimless circling.

"Tricks! Curse it!" The boy called. I wasn't sure what that would do, but I had a bad feeling about it...

The Shuppet floated down to the ground, looking like it was in pain, then it shot a bolt of shadow at Sydney, who was knocked back herself. The seemingly incorporeal bolt lodged itself in Sydney's wing.

"Sydney!" I cried worriedly. "You okay?"She nodded.

"_Yeah_!"

"Then use Water Gun!" I called. "Finish it off!"

She shot the little jet at Shuppet, who was floating tiredly. It made an impact, and the Shuppet dropped to the ground, unconscious. The shadowy bolt faded, leaving Sydney with a minor puncture wound. The boy recalled his Pokémon, and I ran and scooped up Sydney, pulling a Potion from my bag.

"You okay?" I asked quietly.

"_Yeah... I'll be better once you use that stuff. That was a fun battle_!"

"Glad you had fun," I muttered as I sprayed the Potion on her wound. It closed quickly and cleanly, leaving no mark.

"Great battle," the boy said, approaching us. "Is your Wingull okay?"

"Fine. How's your Shuppet?"

"She'll be okay in a minute. Where were you guys headed?"

"Well, we were going to Eterna City to challenge the Gym there."

He nodded sagely. "Another League challenger, huh?"

I frowned. "You say it like it's a bad thing."

"Don't get me wrong. If you want to challenge the Gyms, that's fine - I'm doing the challenge myself - but don't get your hopes up too high. It takes a lot of guts and skill to make it to the top."

I stood and glared at him. "You don't think I can make it."

He held his hands up in a defensive gesture. "I'm just saying, not everyone does."

"I'll show you I can make it! I'll beat the Champion!"

"_I thought you just wanted to get to the Champion_," Sydney whispered.

"If you say so," the boy said. "Maybe let's just take it one step at a time. I'm going to start with introducing myself. I'm Jack Napier." He extended his hand for me to shake.

"Evey Pike," I replied, shaking his hand. "So... I guess we're starting this over. Where are you headed?"

"Eterna City, just like you. So, do you want to just go together? Since we're going the same direction anyway."

"_He's kinda cute_," Sydney said. "_Maybe we should go with him._"

"... Okay. Let's get going," I agreed.

We walked along, eventually seeing a thickening of trees.

"That's Eterna Forest. There's an old, "haunted" house in there," Jack told me, miming quotation marks around the word 'haunted'.

"You seem to know a lot about it."

"I practically grew up in that house." At my curious glance, he elaborated. "I was born in Saffron City, in the Kanto Region, but my parents moved to Eterna when I was around five. They died a few months later, I don't know how, so I was alone. Most night, I ended up sleeping in the Old Chateau, since I didn't have anyone else to stay with."

"Sorry."

"Why? Not your fault. You didn't kill my parents... Did you?" He rounded on me with a mockingly suspicious expression that made me laugh.

"So, what's in it if the house isn't actually haunted?" I queried as we continued to walk.

"Just a couple of ghost Pokémon," he remarked offhandedly.

Sydney squawked in protest. "_Ghost Pokémon?! They're scary_!"

"Cool," I said. "Ghost Pokémon are awesome."

He looked at me curiously. "You're not scared of them?"

"I'm not scared of much."

"Good. Cause the forest's dark."

"'M not scared," I muttered defiantly as we entered the trees.

We wandered along the paths in the forest, Jack leading, Sydney sitting on my head as I followed behind. I could feel Sydney quivering slightly - the shadows in the forest were apparently scaring her.

After what I thought was about four hours, but might have actually only been one or two, I asked Jack, "Are you sure you know where we're going?"

"Of course I am," he told me confidently.

About another hour later - I checked the Pokégear - I was getting tired. "Okay, Jack, we're lost."

"No, we're not."

"Jack!"

"... Okay, we might be a little lost."

I groaned. "Jack, we've been wandering this forest for hours! We're totally lost! The sun has already set. There's no way we're getting to Eterna City tonight. We need to find somewhere to camp."

He turned to look at me. "Okay, we're not getting to Eterna. It's going to rain tonight, but fortunately, we're not far from the Old Chateau. We can spend the night there."

Sydney let out an alarmed squawk. "_Spend the night in a Ghost-Pokémon-infested house?! No thank you_!"

I ignored her, since I couldn't answer without Jack asking suspicious questions. "I guess that's fine. Let's go."

We made it to the Chateau just as the rain started. Shaking ourselves off in the entrance, I looked at Jack. "So, where did you sleep when you stayed here?"

"There's bedrooms in the back. C'mon." I followed him to a series of rooms in the back of the manor. "Pick one. The one in the middle's mine, though."

"How come?"

"Cause there's a picture in there that has eyes that follow you when you walk. I've always liked that picture."

"Okay, then... You can have it. G'night, Jack."

"Night." He disappeared into his room, and I chose another one two doors down. The bed in the room was intact and surprisingly comfortable, and I fell asleep quickly.

I woke up to Sydney tugging at my hair. "_Wake up, Evey_!"

"Whadda ya want?" I groaned groggily.

"_There's a ghost in here with us..._"

I opened my eyes properly to be met with the sight of a floating purple head with two matching hands floating near its body. I reached into my jacket pocket and retrieved my Pokédex. Pointing it at the Pokémon, I discovered that it was a Haunter.

"Hello, there," I said somewhat warily. "What are you doing?"

"_Hi_!" The Ghost-type greeted cheerfully. The Pokémon had the voice of a youngish boy - about age ten, for a human. "_I'm bored. There's nothing to do around here! I've been waiting for Jack to come back for a long time, and then when he does come back, he just wants to sleep. He didn't even say hi to me_!"

"Did he even see you?" I asked.

"_Well, I was hiding in the painting, waiting to try and scare him when he looked at it, so maybe he didn't... But I'm still bored._"

"Hmm... I guess I can play with you for a while. What do you usually do around here?"

"_Well, I like to scare people when they come here, but when there's no one around, there's a room with a bunch of toys that I play in. Come on_!" Haunter floated out the door and I followed quickly.

"_I'm gonna stay here and try to sleep_," Sydney told me when I left. As I spared one last glimpse into the room before following Haunter, I saw her grab Inuise's Poké ball off of my belt.

Haunter led me into a room with faded Pokémon-print wallpaper that may have been brightly coloured once, but was now faded and peeling slightly in contents of the room really made up for the walls, though.

There were little slides shaped like Pokémon, a whole shelf full of Pokémon picture books, a toy chest, plush toys stacked up in one corner... Past the dust, it was a little kid's wonderland. And I hadn't acted like a little kid in a long time. I ran for the slides, Haunter following.

We ran around the room for a little while, sliding and swinging on the small swingset near one wall, throwing plush toys around, and just generally having careless fun. After a while, we'd settled down, and I was reading Haunter a story from the shelf when the door opened and Jack entered the room. Haunter and I glanced up at him with sheepish expressions. Jack only smiled when he saw the mess we'd made.

"Looks like you two had fun," he smirked. He then moved to greet his Ghost-type friend. "Great to see you again, Haunter."

"_Hey, you grew up! You're really tall - you look like a Pokémon trainer_!"

"Missed you too, buddy." Jack turned to me. "He woke you up cause he was bored, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did, but I don't mind. This room is awesome!" I yawned. "But I'm really tired. I'm going back to bed."

"See ya in the morning."

I headed back to bed and curled up with Sydney and Inuise, who'd been released from her Poké ball. I grinned. That bird was pretty smart.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to the smell of something cooking. I followed my nose to a dining room, where Jack was laying out a breakfast of eggs and fruit.

"Morning. I didn't know you could cook!" I inhaled the smell of breakfast. "Where'd you get the eggs?"

"They're unfertilized Starly eggs. Happens more often than you'd think."

I sat down and filled a plate, waiting for Jack to sit down before I actually started eating. The eggs were great, and the berries and fruit were sweet and juicy. I ate three platefuls of food before I felt full.

"Ohh..." I groaned. "I shouldn't have eaten that much, but I just couldn't stop myself... I'm gonna regret this later."

Jack smirked. "Glad you like it."

After Jack said goodbye to Haunter, we set off for Eterna City. In the daylight, it was far easier to tell where we were going, so we reached the town in no time flat. It was decided between Jack and I that we should heal and train our Pokémon before we battled Gardenia, the Gym Leader, so we headed straight to the Pokémon Center.

* * *

**A/N**: So Evey's made it to Eterna now. A bit more of her backstory has been revealed to Sydney - I hope it doesn't sound too sad or weird, cause it's staying that way. I'm not trying really hard to garner sympathy - that's just the way her story worked itself out in my head. She also picked up a short-term traveling companion! Jack's a bit of a reference to another fandom (I think it's pretty obvious), so kudos to whoever catches that.

Also, I'm thinking of making him a permanent fixture in the story, rather than a background supporter-type character. Thoughts?

Please review! Thanks to The Rose Blue Prince who reviewed the last chapter. I want to know what you guys thought of it! Good, bad, strange, even if you think I should crawl under a rock and never write again, some feedback would be nice. All reviews will be answered nicely, even anons, which I will answer in my author's notes. Thanks!


	8. Eterna Greenhouses Garden Gym

**A/N**: This might be my last chapter for January (I hope not), cause I'll be heading into exams at the end of January, so I'll have more projects and stuff to do for school.

Also, I'm going to make Jack a permanent travel companion. This'll be fun, trying to explain everything.

And after the training, Sydney and Inuise are level eighteen and seventeen respectively. That is all.

**Disclaimer**: I own Evey, Jack, and their Pokémon's nicknames. Other than that, I got nothin'.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Eterna Greenhouses Garden Gym

We met again on a field in the middle of town, where several other trainers were gathered and battling with their Pokémon. There was a large, ornate statue depicting a legendary Pokémon, Dialga, standing in the middle of the field.

"Well, let's do some training, then. Come on out, Inuise! Get ready, Sydney!" I called, tossing Inuise's Poké ball.

"Double battle? Alright then. Tricks and Spitfire, you're up," Jack tossed the two Poké balls into the air and released his Shuppet and a Cyndaquil.

"Alright, let's start it off. Inuise, Twister! And Sydney, shoot a Water Gun at Cyndaquil!" I ordered right off the bat. Inuise called up a whirlwind and sent it spinning at the two opposing Pokémon, while Sydney closed as far as she dared on Jack's Cyndaquil before launching the jet at it.

"Spitfire, counter with a Smokescreen," Jack called almost lazily. "Tricks, get out of the way and use Night Shade." Cyndaquil, however, didn't do as it was told. It avoided Sydney's attack and launched itself at her, hitting her in the wing and knocking her, spinning, out of the air. Shuppet floated out of the tornado's direct path, but was slammed by debris from the twister.

"Sydney! You okay?" She hopped to her feet and took off again. "Okay, hit Tricks with a Water Gun! Inuise, Wrap Spitfire up!" Inuise lunged over to the Cyndaquil and squeezed herself around the little Pokémon. Sydney flew after the moving puppet Pokemon, firing jets of water at it. One, two, three jets hit Shuppet and it slammed into the ground. Labouredly, it levitated back into the air.

Meanwhile, thanks to the strength of Inuise's Wrap, Spitfire couldn't move very easily. It could turn its head and tilt it a little, but that was about it.

"Spitfire, shoot an Ember at Inuise's body. Make her let go. Tricks, Night Shade," Jack ordered calmly. Or, he looked calm, but his face revealed his slight nervousness. I guess he didn't like the thought of getting beaten by a girl.

By now, we were drawing a bit of an audience, who were mostly gawking at Inuise, by the looks of it. Sydney drew some looks as well. When the attacks began to fly, though, the small crowd really got riled up. They cheered as Spitfire's Ember caused Inuise to release it, curling up in pain before recovering and counterattacking as I quickly told her to call up a Twister. They oohed as Sydney narrowly dodged the wave of darkness emanating from Tricks and cheered as she hit him with one more jet of water from a distance. This last attack was too much for Tricks, who fell to the ground and was called back into Jack's Poke ball.

"You did great, Tricks. Ruby, your turn now!" He called, tossing a different Poke ball.

A small fox Pokemon popped out of the ball. From the shape, I could clearly see that the Pokemon was a Vulpix, but unlike the red I expected, Ruby was a shining yellow colour, with a slightly darker gold shade for her mane and tails. I looked at Jack in disbelief and a little amusement.

"You named a yellow Vulpix Ruby?" I asked confusedly. "Aren't rubies red?"

"I'm creative," Jack shot back. "This is a battle, not a game of twenty questions. Ruby, Quick Attack!"

The little fox sprang at Sydney so fast that she was a golden blur, and knocked the gliding bird out of the air. Ruby landed, then struck again before Sydney could counter.

"Sydney!" I called desperately. "Supersonic!"

When there was a short break in the fox's attacks, Sydney began to click her beak. The clicks echoed off the crowd's bodies and confused Ruby, who turned around, looking at the crowd as if she wasn't sure whether they were targets or not.

Meanwhile, Inuise's Twister was following Spitfire, who was avoiding it and occasionally shooting embers at it. The embers were usually snuffed out in the wind, but they would sometimes hit a piece of flammable debris and light it, making the tornado more dangerous. Inuise was watching Spitfire run, apparently enjoying the sight.

"Inuise! Stop him with a Thunder Wave!"

As Spitfire passed, Inuise released a pulse of electricity at the Fire-type which caused its muscles to lock, immobilizing it. The Twister, which had been gaining on the Pokemon, finally hit its target, sending Spitfire flying a short distance to land on its belly on the ground.

"Now finish it off with a Wrap!"

"Spitfire! Smokescreen! If it can't see you, it can't hit you!" Jack bellowed at the now slowly recovering Pokemon. "Trust me!"

Spitfire's back flared up, belching smoke into the air until the battlefield was shrouded in darkness. I knew that the smoke would cause Sydney some severe difficulties in dealing with Ruby, but I trusted her to try her best.

"Sydney! Keep using Water Gun! I don't care if you soak the crowd, but be-" I was cut off by a ball of water hitting me in the face. "-careful," I finished weakly as the crowd laughed. I shook my head, getting most of the water off before calling to Inuise, "Use a Twister to try and blow the smoke away, or just hit Spitfire!"

A tornado came up, rising slightly above the smoke layer and blowing the smoke surrounding it around. The twister wound around the battlefield, picking up both Sydney and Ruby, whom it knocked out, on its way, before finally lifting Spitfire into the air once more. Spitfire was thrown out of the tornado and landed, unconscious, in its trainer's arms. Immediately the smoke dispersed and the tornado disappeared, setting Sydney and Ruby onto the ground.

Immediately, I ran to Sydney and Inuise, lifting them off the ground. "You both did fantastic," I murmured to them as Inuise wrapped herself tiredly around my neck. I stood and turned to Jack, who was gently cradling Ruby in his arms, whispering into its fur. I don't think he realised that I was watching, or that the rest of the crowd was too, so I just silently enjoyed the adorable scene for a moment. It was clear to me that he really loved Ruby. I etched the tableau into my mind, making a mental note to draw it later.

After about a minute, Jack opened his eyes and I looked away quickly, not wanting to be caught staring. He turned to me.

"Nice battle. Your Pokemon did a good job."

"So did yours," I replied. Then I looked at the audience of the battle. "What are you people still standing around for? Clear off!"

Some of the crowd dispersed to watch other battles or to challenge others, but a few people approached Jack and me, asking to touch Inuise or hold Sydney or pet Ruby. One person asked me if I had any other Pokemon, a teenage boy asked me if I had a boyfriend, and a girl of about ten with a Meowth following behind her offered to wake up Sydney for me. When I agreed, she uncapped a little yellow container and sprayed some stuff on Sydney that healed a few of her cuts and woke her up.

"_Huh? What was that_?" Sydney asked, shaking her feathers out. "_I feel better now._"

I asked the girl what the spray had been and she told me that it was a Revive. Then she congratulated Jack and me on a good battle and left. Soon after, everyone else who was still hanging around left.

I looked at Jack. "I guess different coloured Pokemon get a lot of attention, eh?" He smirked a little and nodded. "We should probably go to the Pokemon Center before we do any more training or anything," I mused.

"I don't really think we need to train any more, do you? I mean, our Pokemon are tough, and mine know what they're doing. I don't know about yours," he teased.

I laughed. "Guess you're right. Oh, by the way, how come Spitfire wouldn't follow your orders?"

"He's a rebel, like me."

"Oh, you're such a rebel," I mocked sarcastically as we crossed the field.

"No, seriously. He doesn't answer to anyone. I don't know why, he's been this way since I got him. It doesn't bother me too much as long as he doesn't lose us a match."

"Okay, just wondering. So where'd you get Ruby, anyway?"

"I found her in the forest when I was little. She led me to the Old Chateau the first time and pretty much stuck by my side ever since. She usually follows me outside a Poke ball, like Sydney does for you."

"How come she was in a ball when we met, then?"

He looked at me as though I was slow. "She got knocked out in another battle."

"Okay, you don't have to be so mean about it. I get it." We walked in silence for a little while before I asked, "So, if you had Ruby, then how come they gave you a starter Pokemon?"

"The Professor didn't know about her. Stupid old man. She was right in my arms when I got to the lab."

"Maybe they thought she was a toy or something?" I wondered. "You'd have to be pretty thick to think that, though."

"Professor Rowan isn't the brightest," Jack agreed.

We arrived at the Pokemon Center and handed our Pokemon and Poke balls (in Jack's case) to the nurse at the desk, then went for lunch at some sushi restaurant. While we were having lunch, some lady in the restaurant at a table right beside us started yelling that her 'precious' Skitty had collapsed after eating one of the pieces of fish, so it must have been poisoned. The waiters weren't doing anything, so I volunteered to check the Skitty's health and make sure it wasn't poisoned. The Pokemon, which was still able to speak, told me that it was really tired and that the lady hadn't brought it to a Pokemon Center after its last battle. I told the lady that the Skitty wasn't poisoned, but she should go and have it checked over at the Pokemon Center. She told me to butt out of her business and left with her nose stuck haughtily in the air.

Nothing serious came out of the encounter, but I think that Jack caught me appearing to have a conversation with the Pokemon, because I kept catching him looking at me with a thoughtful expression on his face during lunch. I made a mental note to tell him about my ability to speak with Pokemon after we left town.

After we had lunch, we picked up our Pokemon from the Center, walked over to the gym, and entered. Immediately, we were assaulted by a wave of flower scent not unlike that of the field near Floaroma Town, but more concentrated. It was also very humid in the gym.

"Ugh," I muttered. "I prefer to drink water, not breathe it. Let's be done with this battle as soon as possible."

"Agreed," Jack said.

Making our way around the gym, battling trainers to move the giant clock - we took on alternate trainers, and fully healed our Pokemon after each battle using the supplies in our bags - we slowly drew closer to the leader.

When we made it to Gardenia, she was watering the battlefield. The field was a simulated meadow, with trees. grass, and flowers over every surface. She looked up from the tree she was tending and smiled at us.

"Hello!" She greeted. "I'm Gardenia, the Gym Leader. You're both here to challenge me, right?" I nodded. "Okay then. We can do this one of two ways. I can face each of you individually, but the one who goes second will have to wait about an hour afterwards so that I can heal my Pokemon. Or, we can get both of you done at once by doing a co-op double battle. Your choice."

I turned to Jack. "I say we do a double battle."

"In a hurry?" He asked. "We can wait a little while."

"Actually, I am in a hurry," I answered, lowering my voice. "I'll explain later, but I can't really stay in one place for too long. Let's just do a double battle."

He gave me one long, searching look. "If you promise to explain everything after this... then yeah, we'll double battle."

I sighed in relief. "Deal." We turned to face Gardenia.

"We've decided to co-operate. We'll face you in a double battle," Jack announced.

Gardenia looked at him. "You look familiar. What's your name?"

"Jack Napier."

She nodded, satisfied. "I thought so."

"You know each other?" I asked.

"She came by the Chateau a lot. Trying to work up the courage to go in. She never did," Jack snorted. "But enough about the past. Let's get this battle started. You're up, Ruby." The yellow fox darted onto the battlefield from his side.

"_Am I up_?" Sydney asked me. I pulled a Poke ball off of my belt in answer.

"Go, Inuise!"

Once she got over her shock - apparent in her dropped mouth - Gardenia pulled out a Pokeball. "This is a four-on-four match. Gloom and Turtwig are up first!"

"Inuise, Twister!"

"Ruby, Quick Attack Gloom. Hit until I tell you to stop."

"Gloom, dodge it and try to paralyze with Stun Spore! Turtwig, Razor Leaf into the twister!" Gardenia ordered quickly. Her Gloom wasn't fast enough to dodge Ruby's first attack, and flew into a tree, where it provided an excellent target for Ruby's subsequent attacks.

Meanwhile, Inuise's tornado had picked up multiple rocks and a tree. Turtwig's leaves were breaking apart some of the spinning debris, but were in general not helping its chances, as the leaves were occasionally shot out of the tornado to hit Turtwig. The desperate Pokemon, in a move that I couldn't believe was possible, dashed straight up the tree that Ruby was smashing Gloom against.

The twister followed Turtwig, running over the tree and dragging it out of the ground and into the air, with Turtwig still hanging on. The tornado spun Turtwig's tree around a few times, then threw it and disappeared.

Turtwig emerged from the destroyed tree, scratched up but still standing firm. Inuise looked at him, then turned and came over near me.

"_Evey, I believe that there is a new move that I can perform. Will you order it_?"

I pulled out my Pokedex, pointed it at her, and clicked the button. The machine told me that she had learned a move called Dragon Rage.

"Okay, Inuise, use Dragon Rage!" I called confidently. The dragon opened her mouth wide, and I could see a ball of blue flame building up inside it. She shot the ball at Turtwig. It hit the tiny turtle hard, blasting him back into the tree. Turtwig crawled out, then collapsed.

"Ruby, stop," Jack called, and the yellow fox ended its attack on poor Gloom. The flower Pokemon was looking slightly the worse for wear, but wasn't ready to faint yet. Meanwhile, Gardenia recalled Turtwig and sent out a purple flower POkemon, which I learned from the Pokedex was called Cherrim.

"Cherrim, hit that Dratini with a Magical Leaf," Gardenia cried, sounding slightly angry. I guess she didn't like getting beaten, either. "Gloom, knock that Vulpix down with a Grass Knot!"

"Ruby, don't get close to Gloom. Hit it with Ember from a distance," Jack ordered, his voice infused with excitement.

Inuise, Dragon Rage! Hit the leaves if you can!" I called.

Inuise built up a fireball and sent it towards the leaves flying in her direction. A fireball ensued when they collided, but the leaves came out of the flames intact, still flying with deadly speed towards Inuise. Knowing that she would get hit no matter what she did, the Dratini built up another fireball and sent it hurtling towards Cherrim. The leaves made an impact, and Inuise was knocked into a tree; the fireball struck Cherrim, and it didn't go anywhere, but it collapsed.

Ruby was doing an excellent job of avoiding Gloom's rushes. The little fox was quick on her feet, but when her embers hit Gloom, they didn't do too much damage. They were wearing down the purple Pokemon, though.

In a quick, unexpected move, Gloom lunged at Ruby and grabbed her front paws in its hands, tossing her over its head and lashing her front legs together with grass. When Ruby tried to get up and jump on Gloom, she tripped and was knocked down.

"Ruby! Burn the grass!" Jack called.

"Inuise!" I called. "Come on, baby, please get up..." The dragon struggled to raise her head, but she finally succeeded. Cherrim, however, was down for the count.

"You did great, Cherrim," Gardenia said, recalling it. "Come on, win this battle for us, Roserade!" She sent out a short Pokémon with bouquets of flowers instead of hands, white flower petals on its head, and a green leaf cape. "Magical Leaf! Attack that Dratini!"

"Inuise! Watch out!" I cried desperately. She tried to get out of the leaves' path, but couldn't move and was hit. She fainted, and I called her back into her Poké ball.

"Alright," I said determinedly. "Sydney, help us win this battle. Supersonic!"

She glided off my head and chirped at Roserade, who began looking around, as though it were seeing things that weren't there. Jack grinned at me, seeing the look on its face.

"Ruby! Start hitting that Roserade with Ember! Evey, get Sydney to finish Gloom off!"

I nodded. "Right, type advantages. Sydney, hit Gloom with the strongest Water Gun you can!" She flew towards Gloom and began soaking it with water. The water was hitting hard, but not doing much damage; fortunately, Gloom was already pretty badly hurt. I could see that it would faint soon.

Ruby started running circles around Roserade, occasionally turning her head and spitting glowing embers at it. The embers caught one of Roserade's bouquets on fire, and it began thrashing that arm to try and put it out. The thrashing did more damage than the actual embers did, though.

Roserade was wearing down fast, but Gloom was standing strong still. It tried to hit Sydney with an Absorb attack, but Sydney was still moving, so it missed. Her jets eventually wore the Gloom out, and it fainted.

"Now help Ruby out with Roserade!" The Roserade had figured out her surroundings and was countering Ruby's attacks with some of her own. Sydney flew over Roserade, providing the Grass-type with another target so that Ruby could continue her attacks. Her next few embers hit the Roserade on the head, catching its petals on fire. The fire spread with Ruby's help until the green and white Pokemon couldn't take the heat anymore, and it fainted.

As soon as they were sure that the Roserade was unconscious, Ruby and Sydney put out the fire before Gardenia sourly recalled it. Jack and I high-fived and walked over to Gardenia, picking up our wounded, tired Pokemon along the way.

"We'd like our badges, please," I told the pouting Gym Leader.

She huffed. "Fine. Here." She thrust them into our hands and walked away, muttering "Can't believe I got beat by a couple of kids," under her breath.

I glanced at Jack, who shrugged. "She's a sore loser," he told me. "Let's just go."

We stopped by the Pokemon Center on our way out of town to heal our Pokemon before we continued traveling. We were going to head south to bypass Mount Coronet where it was easiest, so instead of going back to Oreburgh by way of Floaroma, like most trainers who didn't have Bikes did - the Cycling Road was just south of Eterna, and apparently you couldn't pass the entrance without a Bicycle - Jack told me about a secret path down the cliffs that separated the Cycling Road from Route 206.

As we set out for the next leg of our journey, I wondered what was going to happen next - when would the Death Eaters arrive? Would I be able to conquer the Elite Four to get to Harry? How were we going to get back? How was I going to answer Jack's inevitable questions - actually, that one wasn't hard. I was going to answer them with complete honesty. He deserved to know. I planned out my words as we slowly scaled the cliffs.

* * *

**A/N**: And that's a wrap! Sorry, I was going to put the whole Q 'n' A in here, but I think it would have been too long. Same with Houndour. Rest assured that both will appear in the next chapter for sure, although, like I said before, I'm not sure that it will be able to come out this month. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please leave a review! Anonymous reviews and signed reviews alike will be answered.

Nunekin (from chapter 6): Yup, Houndour's coming soon. I'm not sure about Magikarp or Gyarados, though - I'll think on it. I can think of a situation where I could use the Magikarp dude, so if I decide to use Magikarp, he'll show up too. I hope you like the Gym description; fight scenes aren't my strong point, but I tried my best. I'm pretty sure that the Pokémon league outlaws the use of humans in battles... but if necessary, yeah, she'd fight for them.

Nukenin (from chapter 7): Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Whose story reminded you of your story (which you shouldn't be neglecting), Evey's or Jack's? I'm going to guess Evey's... On the subject of Jack, no, he's not like Captain Jack Sparrow (although he is one of my favourite characters as well). Thanks for your input, he'll be staying around at least that long. He's not going to be a psychic, and his familiar's a fire type who can learn Ghost moves... Good enough? I'm glad you think that my writing is so good that I shouldn't crawl under a rock. Thank you!

And as of right now, the question remains: who did I base Jack on? First person with the right answer gets eternal bragging rights, so make your guess if you want to. Thanks for reading!

Also - last thing, I promise - if I have any readers in the South-Central Ontario area (like, around Barrie and Orillia), yes, the chapter title was a reference to Bradford Greenhouses Garden Gallery. (I was desperate...) And now I have the damn jingle stuck in my head...


	9. Explanations (And Mountain Climbing)

**A/N**: Hey, look, I got something up! Woohoo! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I own Evey, and sort of Jack, and the colouring of one of her Pokémon. Yeah. That's about it.

Chapter 9

Explanations (And Mountain Climbing)

"Okay," Jack told me when we reached the bottom of the cliff. "Tell me everything. And don't lie. I'll know if you do and I hate liars."

I sighed. Although I knew this was coming, it didn't make figuring out how I was going to explain it any easier.

"Okay. First things first, I guess, and I have to show you the first thing." I pulled my wand out of my bag and pointed it at a tree. "Incendio!"

The tree burst into flames. Sydney and Ruby jumped, and Jack just looked at me, confused, stunned, but mostly curious.

"How?" he asked simply.

"I'm a witch," I told him just as simply. I turned to Sydney. "Could you put that out for me, please?"

He watched absentmindedly as Sydney extinguished the fire. "So that was... Magic?"

"Yep. I can basically do anything, as long as I know the spell and have my wand."

"Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"There's a school for witches and wizards where I come from. I loved it there..."

He looked at me shrewdly. "You were forced to leave."

I hesitated. "Not really... I left of my own choice. Things were bad there, though. A war had just happened, and the winning side took over. The winning side wasn't... shall we say... well-loved."

Jack started walking. "Tell me about this war, but we've got to keep moving. It's going to get dark soon."

I jogged a bit to catch up to him and started the highly abbreviated version of the Wizarding Wars. By the end of it, we'd reached the bottom of the Cycling Road. Sydney and Ruby, who had grown bored by the story, were running around in the grass nearby.

Jack was looking at me, looking slightly impressed - with what, I wasn't sure. "So, this Dark Lord comes to power, kills a lot of people, then gets stopped by a baby. Then, ten years later, he comes back, and keeps attacking this one kid. Then when this kid's seventeen, the Dark guy takes over the world, and the kid has to kill him, then in the final battle, the kid disappears. Right so far?"

"Yeah."

"Then, two years after the guy disappears - a few days ago - you find this book with a spell that makes a Legendary Pokémon appear in a bathroom."

"Pretty much."

"So now, you're here... Doing what?"

"Well, I thought I was just escaping from Voldemort's reign, but when I got here, Arceus told me that someone was prophesied to come here and bring Harry back to kill Voldemort. I just happened to be the one to show up."

We paused for a moment at the entrance to a cave that apparently passed through Mount Coronet, looking up and admiring the peak set against the orange-tinted sky; it was nearly sunset. Sydney and Ruby were right nearby, watching the bug Pokémon run around in the trees beside them. It was peaceful.

All of a sudden, Ruby's head swiveled the way we had come and she growled.

"What is it, Rubes? Hear something?" Jack asked, slightly concerned.

"_There's a Pokémon coming. I think it's hurt_!" she replied urgently. "_Another Pokémon is carrying it_..." Her ears turned forward and she looked confused. "_Haunter_...?" She ran towards what she heard, and I followed suit.

"Where are you going?" Jack called.

"She says she heard a hurt Pokémon!" Jack tore after us, not questioning me for the moment.

I burst through a stand of bushes into a clearing, where Ruby was watching Haunter and the small black shape the ghost had in his hands. I rushed over and dropped to my knees beside the wounded Pokémon as Haunter laid it on the ground.

"What happened?" I demanded as I felt the black Pokémon for injuries. Its coat was matted with a sticky substance that I identified as blood. I pulled a Potion out of my bag and sprayed it. "what Pokémon is this?"

Jack pulled my Pokédex out of my pocket and pointed it at the Pokémon. "Houndour," Jack read. "A Dark and Fire type."

"Explains why it feels so hot," I mumbled. "Anything else?"

"They're fierce little guys. Usually travel in packs. Wonder what happened to this one?"

"_I found him with a human_," Haunter volunteered. "_The human was kicking the poor thing with spiky shoes, so I picked him up, stole his Poké ball from his trainer, and carried him to you guys_."

"Poor guy," I murmured sympathetically. "Where's the ball?"

Haunter dropped it into my waiting hand as Jack asked, "What happened?"

"He was getting beaten up by his trainer, so Haunter picked him up and brought him to us." I fixed my gaze on Haunter. "How did you know where we were, and where did you find Houndour?"

"_I know where Jack is all the time. It's part of being a Ghost-type: we bond with the first human that we really like, and who likes us. I was already on my way to find you when I ran into the little guy. Is he okay_?"

"He's fine."

"Okay, stop leaving me out of the loop," Jack demanded. "What's going on?"

"Haunter was on his way to find us when he came across Houndour. Since Houndour was injured, Haunter brought him to us."

"So Houndour's okay?"

"_Wake him up_!" Sydney demanded. "_I wanna make sure he's okay_!"

I rolled my eyes and rummaged through my bag for a Revive. Finding the desired item, I uncapped it and sprayed it on Houndour. When its eyes opened, I saw that they were red. The little pup immediately leapt to its feet, snarling, but it calmed after a second. In that second, its demeanor changed entirely: its ears pulled back to their regular position, pointing straight up, and it looked at me with eyes wide from under its skull-shaped cap.

"_Where am I_?" the young Houndour asked, in a male's voice. "_Where's Jerry? Who are you_?" He sounded nervous, so I backed away from him a bit. Sydney hopped forward.

"_Don't worry_," she said soothingly. "_We won't hurt you. Do you have a name_?"

He seemed to calm a bit. "_Jerry called me Dumbo. I don't think I like that name much, though_..."

"_That's a mean name_!" She turned to me. "_Please can we bring him with us? His last trainer was so mean_!"

I looked at the Houndour. "Do you want to come with us?"

"_I_..." He looked uncertainly at Sydney, who nodded emphatically. "... _Okay. Yeah, I'll come with you_." He was getting more excited. "_I'll do my best! I won't disappoint you_!" He sat back on his haunches and howled happily. I opened my arms and he hesitated, then jumped into them.

"You need a name," I mused. "What about... Alec?"

"_That's a good name_," Alec replied.

I took his old Poké ball and opened it, then snapped it in half to make sure that he was free. I took out one of my own Poké balls and tapped it on his nose. Alec disappeared into it in a flash of light. The ball wobbled back and forth for a moment, then pinged.

"So you got a Houndour," Jack remarked, looking at Haunter. "Congratulations. As for you..."

"_Can I come with you too_?" The ghost blurted. I translated the question for Jack, who sighed long-sufferingly, then amusedly shook his head.

"_Get over here_," he told the anxious Pokémon, who happily obliged. Jack pulled out his own Poké ball and formally captured Haunter, then glanced at me with a smirk on his face.

"Wonder what we're going to do with all these freeloaders, huh?" He teased as Ruby jumped into his arms.

"I don't know, but maybe we should let them walk a while," I suggested, grinning.

"Sure. And I might as well name Haunter while I'm at it." He tapped the buttons on the Poké balls on his belt, and I followed suit on my own, letting Inuise and Alec out.

We resumed our path to Mount Coronet. Jack was muttering names out loud to Haunter, who was floating beside him, but the Pokémon didn't seem to like the suggestions much. Jack sighed wearily, then glanced over at me as though he had just remembered something.

"I forgot to ask: where did you learn how to talk to Pokémon? Only psychics can do that, and you're not a psychic."

"No, I'm not," I agreed. "It takes a while to explain that, too, so I'll tell you when we make camp."

"Fine," he replied easily. "Ready to brave Mount Coronet?"

"I thought it was just a straight path from one side to the other," I said nervously.

"Relax," he smirked. "Not like we're climbing it or anything. But the path's dark, and it usually takes around two days to get through."

"Great," I groaned. I pulled out my wand and started practicing. "Lumos... Lumos..."

Jack looked at me curiously. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Practicing a spell," I replied a little shortly. "I'm trying to get my wand to light up for more than three seconds."

"That would be helpful," Jack acknowledged. "I have a flashlight, though."

I waved him off. "I need to practice magic anyway. If that doesn't work, sure, we can use your flashlight." I tried again, and the light went out after a bit longer. I cursed. "I was always better at combat spells."

This seemed to perk up Jack's interest. "Like what?"

"There was this really awesome one called the Jelly-Legs Curse that made it so that the person hit couldn't move their legs, and the Body-Bind Curse..." I went on describing curses as we walked into the cave in Mount Coronet.

"Lumos," I whispered. It seemed appropriate somehow to whisper inside the cave. There was a feeling of sacredness hanging in the air, as though we were near some kind of a monument... Or a tomb.

My wand lit up and the light fell on the rocks around us. The stalactites and stalagmites seemed damp, and I could see a small body of water a short ways ahead of us. I concentrated hard on the light on my wand, keeping it lit for as long as I could. Just outside the light's range, the dark dampness of the cave was stifling.

"What time is it?" Jack suddenly asked.

"'Bout seven thirty," I told him, checking my Pokégear. "Why?"

"We'll make camp around nine or so," he said decisively. "We'll need our sleep to get through the

cave tomorrow. Let's go this way." He pointed in a random direction and started walking.

"Oh, no," I told him, grabbing the back of his jacket to stop him. "You're not picking the direction. I remember what happened last time you led the way."

He turned around, scowling at me. "Then how do you propose we get through this cave?"

I thought it through for a moment, then asked Sydney, "Do you think there might be a way for you to figure out a way through the cave?"

"Supersonic," Jack interjected defeatedly. "You could use Supersonic like echolocation."

"_I'll try it_," she told me, flapping off. A few seconds later, I heard a series of chirping noises. Another second after that, Sydney settled back on my head.

"_Nope. Can't do it_," she told me. "_Guess we'll have to stumble._"

"Great," I groaned. "We might as well get moving, I guess. Now's as good a time as any."

We set off. I kept my wand lit for as much time as I could at a time, but I eventually got tired and we had to use Jack's flashlight. Alec offered to light a log that he found to use as a torch, but Jack told him to keep the log for a campfire later. After Alec found the log, Jack and I sent our Pokémon out to search for more materials for a fire. We walked in silence for a while until I tripped over something hard that I had stepped on.

"What was that?" I groaned from my position on the ground. "Lumos!"

The wandlight fell on a blue rock that looked vaguely like a musical instrument. I picked it up and blew into it. All it made was a hollow windy noise.

"What is this thing?" I wondered. "It doesn't do anything." I considered it for a minute. I kind of liked the way it looked, so I opened my bag and dropped it into it. "I think I'm going to keep it."

Jack looked at me, clearly confused, then shook his head and helped me up. "Whatever. Let's just keep walking."

Our Pokémon rejoined us a few minutes later, at about eight thirty. Half an hour later, after getting sufficiently lost in Mount Coronet for the day, we set up camp. Alec and Ruby helped to get a warm bonfire going, while Jack and I set up the tents. Tricks and Haunter floated around, stealing tent poles when we weren't looking, so Inuise watched them closely to make sure that those were the only things they stole. Spitfire, who had ignored Jack's instructions to help with the fire, was having an animated debate with Sydney about whether Water- or Fire-type Pokémon were more awesome. They were still at it when we settled around the fire to eat a late supper.

"What in the world are they arguing about?" Jack asked amusedly, looking over at Sydney and Spitfire.

"Who's better, Water or Fire types," I told him, laughing. "You're both wrong; Dragon types are the coolest," I called over to them, which got me soaked hair and a burned dinner for my trouble. Inuise wrapped herself around my neck, though, which was nice.

"So how did you get to talk to Pokémon, anyway?" Jack asked once I stopped laughing and got myself more dinner.

"Apparently I'm something called a hybrid," I told him conversationally. He almost lost whatever he was drinking at the time.

"I heard those didn't exist anymore! How do you know?"

"A couple of Pokémon have told me. What do you know about them?"

He was giving me a calculating look, as though trying to decide if I was lying or crazy. "I only know as much as everyone else knows: hybrids are really rare. They're supposed to be either a random genetic thing - a regular human who can just understand Pokémon for reasons unknown - or the son or daughter of a Legendary Pokémon turned human."

"So no one really knows which it is?" I asked, slightly annoyed. I wasn't sure whether it came with being a witch or not, and I wanted to know.

"There's a few scholars who study myths and stuff that might be able to tell you, but I don't know who or where they are."

"Oh. Okay." I just sat there for a while, absentmindedly listening to our Pokémon's conversations, when my Pokégear signaled. I started and checked it. Dana was calling me. I groaned.

"Your mom or something?" Jack asked. I ignored him and flipped open my Pokégear.

"Hi, Dana," I said in a voice that didn't show my annoyance at her call. "What's going on?"

"Hi, Evey! Good to talk to you again. Where are you? What are you doing? Did you get any new Pokémon? Tell me tell me tell me!" She squealed and I winced, holding the Gear a few inches from my ear.

"I'm in Mount Coronet. I just beat Gardenia today. I was just eating dinner, and I got a Houndour earlier," I answered her questions.

"Oh, a Houndour? I like Growlithe better, but Houndour's pretty cool too. How did you beat Gardenia with a Water-type Pokémon? Or did you already have Houndour by then?"

"I teamed up with another trainer who's coming with me."

"Ooh, a traveling buddy? I traveled with Ash Ketchum for a few days once... He was so cute. And his Pikachu! Oh, I could go on for days! Who's the person you're with? Is it a boy? Is he cute? Tell me!" She demanded loudly. By Jack's stifled laughter, I could guess that she was loud enough for the whole team to hear.

"What are you going to tell her, huh?" Jack teased. "That I'm an adorable, handsome hunk of man?" I blushed and made a 'cut it out' gesture with my hand. I put my hand over the Pokégear mouthpiece for a second and whispered to Sydney.

"Soak him." I then went back to my conversation with Dana. "Yeah, it's a boy. His name is Jack and," I lowered my voice so Jack, who was trying to get Spitfire to hit Sydney, couldn't hear me, "he's really cute."

"Describe him!" She demanded. "I want to know exactly what he looks like. How old is he? Where's he from?"

"I think he's fourteen or fifteen. He's really tall. From Saffron City, in Kanto. He's got dark blond shoulder-length hair, and he's wearing purple pants, a green jacket, and a black shirt. Good enough?"

"What about his eyes?"

"Dark brown."

She sighed. "Sounds dreamy..."

"Yeah... So why did you call, anyway?"

"Just wanted to check in on you! Anyway, I've got to go. Talk to you soon! Bye!" Without waiting for an answer, she hung up on me. I rolled my eyes and replaced my Pokégear around my neck.

"Who was that?" Jack asked.

"A... friend of mine."

"_She's really annoying_!" Sydney spoke up. I translated it, and he laughed.

"That bad, huh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not as bad as you."

He faked a hurt expression. "Well, if you don't want my company, I'm going to bed. C'mon, guys." He turned towards his tent, then paused. "Hey, I just thought up a great nickname for Haunter."

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Reaper," he replied, while Haunter nodded behind him.

"Why Reaper?"

"Cause some people have apparently been killed by Haunters before." He waved his arms in a spooky manner. "Creepy, huh?"

"Not really. We should get to bed too. G'night, Jack."

"Night." We entered our tents with our Pokémon. I laid out my sleeping bag, took off my jacket, and crawled into the bag. Sydney nestled herself beside my neck, between my shoulder and my pillow, Alec curled up a few feet from me until I told him to sleep wherever he wanted - he moved to lie down on my feet - and Inuise curled up on my chest. Their warmth made my drowsy, and I drifted off a few minutes later.

**A/N**: Alright, that's the chapter! Hope you enjoyed the latest installment of The Search for the One (I sound like a TV announcer or something, don't I?) and don't forget to review!

Also, since no one guessed correctly, I'll reveal the character who Jack Napier is based on: he's kind of based on the Joker from Batman. Allow me to explain (if you don't care, just skip this). One of the Joker's possible backstories names him as Jack Napier. Appearance wise, I based this version on a younger Dark Knight Joker, minus the scars. Personality wise, the Jack here is kind of arrogant, as well as being a little snarky, and he makes sarcastic jokes a lot. This is the way I envision the Joker having been as a kid. So yeah, that's where I pulled him from. I know, it's weird. So am I.

And I put Houndour into this chapter! So this chapter marks the point where both winners of my poll are in the story. I hope you people are happy now. *huff*

Please review! I need to know if I'm doing a good job! I'm really insecure about my writing. Even if it's just a few words, every thought makes me happy! Thank you!


	10. An Unexpected Destination

**Disclaimer**: I own Evey, Jack and the Pokemon nicknames. That is all.

* * *

Chapter 10

An Unexpected Destination

I woke with a start when a bright light went on outside my tent. Taking a quick inventory of my tent, I noticed that all my Pokémon were still sleeping. Sydney had her head tucked under a wing and had inexplicably moved to sleep in the middle of Inuise's coiled body. I smiled at the sight for a moment before I remembered the light.

I looked towards the light. It wasn't the same colour as Jack's flashlight, so I thought it might be a good idea to investigate. _After all_, I glanced at my Pokégear, _who would be wandering a dark mountain at three in the morning?_

I pulled on my jacket and poked my head out of my tent. I saw the silhouette of a man standing beside the coals of the near-dead fire. His profile was obscured by either his hair or a hood.

"Are you Alexandra Pike?" the man asked in a voice that was clearly not his own; it sounded as though he was forcing it lower and quieter than it normally was. I wondered who the man was and how he knew me.

"I was... but I changed my name. How did you find me? Who are you?"

"I'm a friend of your father's."

This made my blood run cold. Where did this guy come from? "Why are you here?" I demanded in a voice that was bolder than how I felt. "Where's my dad? That scumbag," I added under my breath.

"I'm here with a message from your father. He wanted me to let you know that he would like to meet you at some point. He also wants to know how your mother is."

"Tell him that Mom died six years ago, and that I'm mad that he never kept his promise. What the hell kind of a guy is he, anyway? Mom never got over him. I want to meet him, though. I want to tell him to his face how heartbroken Mom was that he never came back."

"Very well. If you would like, I could give him your Pokégear number."

"No, just tell him I'll meet him. Where would be a good place to meet... Hang on a second." I ducked back into my tent before the man could reply. Sydney looked up at me sleepily when I entered; evidently I had woken her up.

"_What's happening_?" She asked drowsily. "_Are you talking to your dad_?"

"No, but I'm going to set up a meeting with him."

Alec raised his head as well, alert but groggy. "_Maybe you should meet him in Veilstone or something_," he advised. "_Somewhere a little while away, to give you time to get ready_."

"That sounds like a good idea." I glanced at the map of Sinnoh on my Pokégear. "I kinda want to go to Celestic Town. Maybe I should meet him there?... Yeah, Celestic's good." I exited the tent.

"Have you decided where you want your father to meet you?"

"Yeah. Tell him Celestic Town." I fixed the man with a suspicious look. "How did you know I was here?"

"Just a feeling. I'll let your father know to meet you in Celestic Town." He turned away from our camp and walked away.

Jack's head poked out of his tent. "What a weirdo."

I screamed and jumped into the air, fighting back the urge to Stun him. "Were you listening to our whole conversation?" I demanded angrily. "Didn't anyone ever teach you it's rude to eavesdrop?"

"Pretty much," he answered, looking unperturbed by my reaction. "I didn't know your mom was dead."

"That's because I never told you," I replied, still steamed. "I'm going back to bed."

"Wait," he called. "Aren't you on a certain time limit? Going to Celestic Town will slow us down by a day."

"I'm not on a time limit per se," I explained. "I just need to keep on the move so that the Death Eaters can't catch me. Goodnight."

I reentered my tent and slept until about eight, when I was awoken by the sound of the fire crackling. I got my jacket back on and crawled out of the tent. Alec followed me like a little bodyguard.

Jack was cooking breakfast over the fire. I noticed that the black rings around his eyes hadn't improved any. "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Not much. Breakfast?" I grabbed my mess kit from my bag, loaded my plate, and started eating. After I had gotten about halfway through, I dug around in my bag for the Pokémon food and bowls and laid out breakfast for my Pokémon. Jack was doing the same.

After breakfast, we packed up camp. Jack watched amusedly as I shoved the tent packs into my bag.

"How do you fit all of your stuff in there? Magic?"

"Yeah, an Extension charm," I grunted as I finished shoving the packs in. I tossed him my bag. "Take a look."

He pulled it open and looked inside. "Cool."

We recalled our Pokémon , except for Sydney and Ruby, and set off. The mountain wasn't any lighter inside than it had been the night before, but before long we found ourselves at an opening in the rock face. When we walked outside, the air was cold, and there was snow on the ground.

"What the hell?!" Jack yelled. "I thought this was the exit!" He raged for a little while longer before I stopped him.

"It's not that big a deal," I told him. "Let's just keep going. There's bound to be another path down the mountain, and at least now we can see."

We walked a little, shivering from the cold. Sydney hopped down off of my head and into my jacket, and Ruby did the same with Jack.

I called out Alec, because I knew he would be warm, and bundled him into my jacket as well. It helped a bit. I mostly stopped shivering, anyway.

A little while and a few patches of grass later, we found another entrance to a different part of Mount Coronet. We ran inside gratefully, happy to get out of the wind and snow.

"Lumos," I whispered, lighting up the sudden darkness a bit. We resumed our aimless wandering, although I had the odd feeling that we were about to stumble upon something important.

We went up a few sets of stone stairs - or, I say they were stairs, but they weren't really stairs. I could see an odd fog coming up in front of us. I stopped Jack.

"Would you rather stumble around in dark fog or light fog?" I asked him with a falsely cheerful smile.

"Fog?" He cursed. "Dark, I guess. No point in wasting my flashlight battery if we can't see anyway."

We continued on in the darkness, now unable to see each other at all, while earlier we were at least able to see our silhouettes. I kept feeling as though we were getting closer to something almost holy. It was weirding me out.

As we climbed - there was a definite slope beneath our feet - the air became colder. I saw a light - another exit to the cave - and pointed it out to Jack, who seemed hesitant to move towards it.

"It's weird," he muttered. "I don't like it. It gives me a bad feeling."

"Like we're violating something," I agreed. "But it might be our best shot to get out of here." When he still didn't move, I grabbed his arm and started to pull on it. "Come on," I coaxed. "We'll at least be able to see a route down the mountain, probably."

He followed me out of the exit into the colder outside air. No wind blew outside. No snow sat on the ground. Instead, we saw a white stone plateau of sorts, with pillars of the same white stone that looked as though they had been smashed with incredible force. The structure gave off the air of a ruined temple from some ancient civilization, where the ghosts of people who had once been there still roamed. There were marks of disturbance on the stone floor - someone, or several people, had set foot here in the last few years, at least. Their footprints, set in mud and gravel, were still visible on the first few feet of stone.

Jack turned to stone beside me. "Spear Pillar," he breathed.

"What's Spear Pillar?" My voice echoed off of the pillars around us. Sydney dug herself deeper into my jacket, apparently nervous.

"An ancient temple at the top of Mount Coronet," Jack answered me. "Legend has it that Arceus created Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and the entire Sinnoh region up here, and is still around here somewhere." He paused and looked around, taking a few steps onto the stairs to the raised temple. "More recently, this is the place where Cyrus, the leader of a group of criminals called Team Galactic, tried to destroy this world and replace it, using Giratina's power. He was stopped by a ten-year-old Pokémon trainer."

"That's embarrassing," I murmured, pushing back my laughter, but unable to suppress my grin. I walked towards the stairs as well when a sudden wind came up, and a noise sounded out of my bag.

"Huh? What's that noise?" I asked confusedly, poking my head into my bag. I pulled out the weirdly-shaped blue rock that I had picked up earlier. The sound intensified as it came out of my bag and into the wind.

"What is that? Some kind of weird rock?" Jack asked.

"That's what I thought," I replied, examining it more closely, "but now that I can see it properly, it kind of looks like an instrument of some kind..." I put my lips up to a reddish-coloured protrusion on the end of the rock and blew on it gently. A sound came out of it, like a note from a well-played flute. I blew a little harder and multiple notes at once, in harmony. I didn't understand how that worked, but I didn't stop blowing - couldn't stop blowing. The music was almost coming on its own now. As the notes continued, I saw a shimmer in the air above the stairs where Jack was still standing, gaping at me. Then, as the flute played a loud, high note of its own accord, a golden, shining staircase appeared, extending upwards to the sky from the stairs on which Jack was standing.

We looked at each other for a long moment, surprise and shock mirrored in each other's expressions, then I put the flute away and wordlessly joined Jack in climbing the stairs. The appearance of the stairs and the haunting music from the flute only served to heighten the surreality of the situation, and increase our apprehension, but we climbed on anyway. We'd dug our graves deep enough already, were we in any danger; trespassing further could hardly make it much worse.

When we reached the top of the staircase, an unexpected sight greeted us: a large, white, four-legged Pokémon, with golden hooves, a black underbelly, and golden protrusions to the sides of its body.

"Arceus," I breathed. I turned to run down the stairs before anything bad happened, but Jack's arm and Arceus' voice stopped me.

"_How did you find the Azure Flute_?"

"I-I stumbled over it on the way through Mount Coronet. I wasn't sure what it was, so I picked it up," I explained a little nervously, turning back around to face the Alpha Pokémon. The nervousness came from not knowing whether Arceus was going to strike us down for walking here or not. I certainly hoped not. Realistically, I was probably replaceable as far as returning Harry to Hogwarts went.

"_I will not harm you. You stand here by coincidence and luck, but hold no bad intentions for your presence here_."

"And what if we did hold bad intentions? What would you do then?" Jack challenged. I assumed that Arceus was making his words understandable to our whole party. "Cause from what I heard, you didn't step in when Cyrus was going to destroy the world."

"_The trainer who had been following the Galactic leader was more than capable of stopping him. I aided her by calling on the Spirit Trio_."

"But would you have helped if she failed?"

"_I would have ended the man's plot, or his life. That is immaterial._"

"Should we just... go?" I asked. "I kind of do need to get moving..."

"_I will send you to the exit of the mountain,_" Arceus assured. "B_ut you have the Azure Flute. This could be a necessary aid for you to use on your journey. Bring it out._" When I did so, he tilted his head back and roared. The flute started to glow for a moment, then it faded.

"_Now, you will be able to call upon a Legendary Pokémon to aid you in a time of need. In a moment of peril or great catastrophe, blow on the flute, and one of the Legends will be summoned to aid you_."

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"Let's go," Jack told Arceus. Arceus threw back his head and roared again. A blinding white flash of light surrounded us. When it dissipated, we were standing in front of a cave exit inside Mount Coronet. Outside, a wooden bridge over a waterfall-fed river lay in front of us. Past the rocky outcrop on the other side of the river, we could see a small field, then just beyond that, the outline of a gray building with a blue roof stood tall. Jack began to run across the bridge to Hearthome City, just past the field. I raced to catch up with him, unzipping my jacket and letting Sydney and Alec out as I did so.

"Wait up!" I cried. Jack only laughed and ran faster, zipping down the stairs on the rocks ahead into the grass, only to come face to face with a white and red Pokémon sporting long, sharp claws. Jack backpedaled before he hit the startled Pokémon, and its expression changed to that of one like shock. Fuzzy shock. Its claws raised, and whatever it was holding under them - by the looks of it, a little plant Pokémon - ran off into the grass. The badger-like Pokémon snarled, and Jack moved further back to stand beside me as I arrived. I pulled my Pokedex out of my bag and pointed it at the Pokémon. The Pokedex dinged, and an entry popped up on screen.

'Zangoose, the Cat Ferret Pokémon. It has feuded with Seviper for generations. Its sharp claws are its biggest weapon.'

The Zangoose was up on its hind legs with its claws extended, looking angry. It snarled, "_You have interfered with my hunting, human._"

"Jack, it's going to attack us!"

Jack's mouth was set in a firm line. His eyes were bright with excitement at the challenge. "Then I'll battle it. Ruby!" The little fox darted out in front of us. Zangoose stared down at it, either amused or calculating.

"Ruby, Quick Attack!" Ruby dashed towards the Zangoose, leaping up to crash into her head. The impact knocked it back a little, but she shook herself off and brought her claw down to slash at Ruby. The claw made an impact, and Ruby flew backwards, a slash decorating her shoulder.

Ruby didn't back down, though. She stood tall, circling around the Zangoose, who was watching her as if waiting for the little fox to strike. The Zangoose grew tired of waiting and struck out at Ruby again. She dodged and retaliated with an Ember to Zangoose's paw.

The larger Pokémon stumbled back in pain, then dropped to all fours and growled, charging. Ruby leapt out of the way again.

"Ruby, Will-O-Wisp!" Jack ordered. Ruby sent a purple flame spinning at the now stopped Pokémon, hitting her below one of her eyes and burning the fur and skin there. The Zangoose counterattacked, swiping with a long claw once more. Ruby was hit in the side and went down.

She wasn't done yet, though. From her place on the ground, Ruby sent an Ember at Zangoose's back paw, burning that, too. The Zangoose, who was getting tired and angry from the pain, took one last swipe at Ruby, which she dodged, before collapsing to the ground on her stomach.

Jack approached her cautiously, scooping up Ruby as he did. I followed to act as a translator in case he wanted to talk.

He knelt beside the Zangoose warily, on guard for her claws. She was still conscious,so he asked, "Are you alright?"

"_Your Pokémon attacked me. I am injured, but I will recover. Aren't you going to continue, or enslave me_?"

I repeated this to Jack, who shook his head. I noticed that he looked a little like a dog shaking off water when he did that.

"I'd rather Pokémon came along by choice. We can heal you and you can go, if you want," he offered.

She pondered this for a moment, then replied, "_I'd rather come with you. This field is boring, anyway. There's no challenge to the prey here._"

After I translated this, Jack's face broke into a grin. "Sounds good to me." He pulled out a Poké ball and captured the Zangoose. "I'll call you Ace.

"So... we were racing, weren't we?" Jack stood and sprinted off towards Hearthome, with Ruby and I chasing and Sydney gliding overhead.

* * *

**A/N**: Yeah, new chapter! Okay, I have to get off the computer soon, so I'll just write these quick. One more Pokémon for Jack - I didn't decide to put her in until I got there and decided that this chapter needed some action. Tedious filler chapters are tedious. On a bright but unrelated note, I finished my exams and I think I might have aced a couple of them at least :D. Thanks for the luck, everyone!

Nukenin: Yeah, finally, eh? :D I might go into more detail with how he'll handle the ending near the end, I'm still hashing that out as it is. Good thing I have lots of time for that. I kind of did replace team Galactic with the Death Eaters! I'm thinking maybe one or two members of Galactic might show up, though. Not sure yet. Yeah, Dana's going to be poking her nose in at the worst possible times, I think. One of those annoying 'friends with everybody and I like everyone to know it' characters. You really like Houndour, don't you? :)

Please review! Even if it's just to say 'hey, I read this'. I feel like I might have lost people in the last couple of chapters... If you have suggestions to make the story better, please, feel free to share, and I'll see if there's a way to incorporate them somehow.


	11. Home is Where the Heart Is, Not Here

**A/N**: Hey, I'm back!

**Disclaimer**: I own Evey, Jack, their Pokémon's nicknames, and that's it. Nothing else. Too bad, really; I'd make one awesome Pokémon game if I owned Nintendo.

* * *

Chapter 11

Home is Where the Heart is, Not Here

As we walked through the gate to the city, I gasped in amazement. It was so... clean. And bright. People were roaming the tan-paved streets, little kids and Pokémon running after many of them. The apartments were painted bright pastel colours. We moved a little ways into the town, and I saw what I assumed was the Pokémon Contest Hall that Hearthome was so famous for.

"Jack. We should enter a Pokémon Contest while we're here," I told him excitedly. He groaned and rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. It'll be fun!"

"I don't do dressing up Pokémon. Or dancing."

"_Please, Jack_?" Ruby chimed in. "_Just one time, please_?" I translated her question while she gave him a cute little begging look. I could see him bending, and he finally sighed.

"Fine. We'll enter a Contest. Happy now?" He got his answer as I grabbed his arm and dragged him to find a dress clothing store for the Contest.

Two hours and five stores later, Jack was carrying a shopping bag which held a black suit jacket with tails, a dark purple vest, a green formal dress shirt, black dress pants and a red tie.

I was carrying a shopping bag with an asymmetrical dress that had two layers of skirts. The bottom layer reached down to my knees and was a sky blue colour with white diamonds. The top layer reached down to my ankles on one side and stayed at my midthigh on the other, and was a kind of lavender purple. The bodice was the same colour as the under skirt, with a white patch running up the middle. At the top of the dress, near my collarbone, was an aqua green decoration that made a 'v' shape under my neck, then had another piece that went around my neck. The dress had three quarter sleeves. The clerk at the store told me that the design was part of a line based on Legendary Pokémon. My dress was designed after Suicune. I also carried a pair of blue high heels to match.

We made our way to the Pokémon Center, where we dropped off our Pokémon to be healed and put our dress clothes in a room. Jack eyed my heels once again as I put them away.

"How do girls walk in shoes like those without breaking their ankles? Seriously, you could classify the heels as deadly weapons."

"Not funny," I told him tartly. "They're not that bad."

He shrugged. "If you say so. Let's just go make Poffins."

Part of the Contest was a visual evaluation, which, as the assistant at the Contest Hall assured us, needed good Poffins to be fed to Pokémon. Poffins were like muffins made out of Berries that would improve the way a Pokémon looked.

Since Jack was entering Ruby into a Beauty Contest, and I was entering Sydney into a Cute Contest, he needed to make Dry Poffins, and I needed to make Sweet Poffins. We shared the Berries out of Jack's bag, because he and Ruby had a tendency to grab Berries whenever they saw them.

Jack has his turn at the Poffin maker first, stirring the batter gently enough to make sure it wouldn't spill, but quickly enough to stop it burning. His Poffins looked awesome when he was done with them. I hoped that mine would look at least a little like his when I was done.

I went up next. I selected a Berry that Jack told me was a rare, sweet Berry. It would make a good Poffin, he said. I started swirling the batter the way I had seen Jack doing, but the woman who was helping told me that it was too slow, so I sped up a bit nervously. The batter started rising to the top of the bowl. Panicking, I stopped stirring. The batter started to burn almost as soon as I did so, so I started whirling it. The batter flew over the edge of the bowl and slopped all over my apron. Frustrated, I was about to leave; then Jack stepped up behind me and took my hands gently.

"Here. Let me help," he said into my ear. "Stir like this, gently." He took the spoon and placed it in my hands, then took my wrists and started to move them, gently stirring the Poffin mixture. I started to get the hang of it as the batter thickened a bit while it cooked. Jack let go of my hands, but didn't step away. I figured it was to make sure that I didn't totally ruin the batter, but it felt... nice. It was weird. I kind of didn't like it, but I did at the same time. Did I... like Jack?

_Nah. Silly thought. He's just a friend._ I restrained myself from shaking my head and kept stirring.

A short time later, my Poffins finished cooking. They weren't as good as Jack's were, but they didn't come out as badly as I had expected.

"Pretty good. Want to try again?" Jack asked, pulling another two Berries out of his bag.

"Sure. Could you, um... help me?" I grinned, embarrassed.

He smirked. "Just can't get enough of me, can you?" He laughed as I whacked him on the arm and we made a few more Poffins.

After we picked up our Pokémon from the Center, Jack persuaded me to go face the Gym leader before our Contest. "The Contest doesn't start for another two hours. I'm bored."

"Alright, let's go. But we better make it quick," I told him, grinning as he ran off, Ruby on his heels.

Sydney, sitting on my head, offered an unwelcome comment. "_I bet you love him, don't you_?"

"No!" I protested, too quickly.

Sydney giggled and proceeded to tease me. "_Evey loves Jack, Evey loves Jack, Evey - hey_!" I started running and she had to interrupt her sing-song chant to hold on.

As we were about to enter the Ghost-type gym, a boy pushed the doors open. "I can't believe I lost!" He muttered angrily.

"Is Fantina a tough Gym leader?" I asked him.

He looked at me as though I was stupid. "Of course she's tough. She's a Gym leader. The toughest Ghost-user in Sinnoh." He pushed past us and dashed off in the direction of the Pokémon Center.

I frowned after him. "Rude."

"Ignore him," Jack advised. "Let's get this over with."

The Gym was pitch-black. A man at the front of the Gym handed me a flashlight as Jack pulled his own out.

"What's this for?" I asked.

There are tiles on the floor in the Gym, with shapes on them," the man explained. "The shapes on the doors correspond to the ones on the floor. To move on in the gym, you have to find the blue tile, and got through the door with that shape on it."

"Simple," Jack replied in a cocky voice.

The man shook his head. "If you pick a wrong door, it'll send you back here. There are also trainers wandering the floor. If you get caught in their flashlight, you have to battle them."

Jack nodded. "No problem. Let's move."

Jack's flashlight was running out, so we used mine to find the tiles. The first room was easy; the blue tile was right near the entrance, and there were only two doors. We didn't get spotted by anyone there.

In the next room, we wound up battling two trainers. The first one had a Gastly that was easily brought down by a Bite from Alec and Reaper's Night Shade. The other one had two Pokémon, a pair of Drifloons, one of whom knocked out Alec before Reaper took them both down. We found the door after a few minutes.

Then, the last room. Right in front of us stood a tall, proud woman in a sparkly purple dress.

"Are you Fantina?" I asked.

"I am. You come to challenge me, non?"

"Yes, we do. Can we face you in a double battle?"

"Oui, of course! It will be four on four, d'accord?"

"Fine by me," I replied.

Jack whispered in my ear, "You can understand what she's saying?"

"Yeah. She's speaking a language from my world."

He nodded and pulled a Poke ball off his belt. Fantina moved to a battlefield, and we moved to face her.

"Inuise!" I called, tossing her Poke ball into the air.

"Tricks, come on," Jack said, having released his Pokémon, which was now pulling at his hair and sticking his tongue out at him. "Let's just battle."

"Duskull and Haunter!" Fantina called simply, sending out her Pokémon with a flash of light and smoke from their Poke balls.

"Inuise, Dragon Rage!"

"Tricks, Curse that Haunter."

"Duskull! Shadow Sneak! Haunter, Confuse Ray!"

The battle began in earnest. Inuise built up a blue fireball and launched it at Duskull, who was hit before he could think of disappearing. Haunter sent a ray of light from his eyes at Tricks, who started floating around in an aimless circle. Tricks tried to focus. He did something that apparently hurt himself. After the pain, a shadowy nail appeared in front of the puppet. The nail flew towards Haunter, hitting the purple Pokémon on its underside. Haunter was thrown back a few feet, a look of pain entering its eyes. Tricks resumed its floating.

"Magnifique! Such a wonderful display!" Fantina cried, staring at Inuise. "Malheureusement, all things must end. Duskull, Pursuit! Haunter, Sucker Punch!"

Duskull flew towards Inuise, cloaking itself in a black aura.

"Inuise!" I cried as the Ghost made an impact and she flew back. She raised her head to look at me, waiting for my next order. "He's coming again! Build up a big Dragon Rage and protect yourself with it!"

The fireball that she built up was larger than her head. As Duskull came to tackle her again, she moved her head to follow his angle of approach. The Ghost-type rammed right into the fireball and it exploded, sending both Inuise and Duskull flying. Neither were able to move.

I recalled Inuise. "You did a great job, sweetie."

"Nice one," Jack told me quickly, before ordering Tricks to hit Haunter with Night Shade. The smaller ghost knocked his opponent to the ground. Haunter was unable to continue as the ghostly nail hurt him past his limit.

"Alright, Tricks. How about you come over here-" the puppet obliged, pulling at Jack's hair again, "-let go of my hair, and give Ruby a turn." The puppet Pokemon's eternal grin disappeared momentarily as Jack recalled him into his Poke ball. Ruby darted out in front of Jack, assuming a battle stance.

"How about it, Sydney? Let's kick some butt!" The little bird flew off my head to glide in front of us.

"Mismagius and Loony! Show these enfants a real Pokémon battle!" A purple scarecrow-like ghost, which my Pokedex said was Mismagius, and a purple balloon with four yellow arms, which was a Drifblim, were released from her Poke balls. "Psybeam and Ominous Wind!"

A wind picked up in the stadium. Like the atmosphere at Spear Pillar, it bothered me. The wind blew Sydney around, sending her spinning into a wall. Ruby was picked up off of her feet and dropped a few moments later.

To my confusion, it also affected Mismagius. The purple ghost was blown around into a wall as well, but was able to recover quicker than Sydney. It sent a ray of multicoloured light shooting at Ruby.

"Ruby! Dodge that Psybeam and counter with Ember!"

"Sydney, Water Gun!"

Ruby managed to avoid the Psybeam by a hair and was dashing around the stage, a yellow blur shooting fire at Mismagius, who was continually attempting to hit Ruby with an attack.

Sydney, meanwhile, was flapping around Loony's head, annoying it and shooting jets of water at its eyes as it tried to keep her in sight. The balloon grew tired of it and waved one of its arms at her, knocking her over to me. She got up and looked over at me.

"_I've got an idea for a move! Tell me to use it_!" She ordered. I checked my Pokedex and saw that she had learned a move called Wing Attack.

"Sydney! Use your Wing Attack! Hit Drifblim hard!"

Her first rush was avoided by the purple Pokémon, but it wasn't so lucky on her next two passes. The first knocked it away hard. The second drove it to the ground, where it stayed.

Ruby, meanwhile, was having some trouble. Fantina was getting fed up with the blur attacking her Pokémon - despite the fact that she kept calling it a smart move - and had ordered Mismagius to hit Ruby with a Magical Leaf. The fox was now attempting to outrun the attack, while Jack yelled, "How can a Ghost-type even learn Magical Leaf?!"

"A TM!" I answered. "Sydney, Wing Attack! Jack, get Ruby to lead the leaves around Mismagius! See if she can manage to get them on the other side from her!"

"Let's see if this works," Jack replied grimly. "Ruby, get yourself and the leaves on opposite sides of Mismagius!"

Sydney moved in for her attack. Mismagius, who was too busy watching Ruby avoid its attack, didn't see the bird coming and was knocked, spinning, through the air. While Mismagius was distracted. Ruby darted underneath it. The leaves followed her through the air. At the last second, Ruby jumped, and the leaf mass swerved upwards to hit her, but knocked Mismagius out instead.

Fantina called her Pokémon back, and Sydney landed back on my head and Ruby landed in Jack's arms.

"Magnifique! Such a fantastic display of Pokémon power! Your Pokémon, so strong! I shall honor your power with this Badge!" She held out a hand to each of us. In it was a badge shaped like three attached circles, and a purple disc.

"The move is one of my favourites, Shadow Claw! Your Pokémon will attack the other with a claw of shadow! Very dangereux, non?"

"It would be," I replied. "Thank you for the battle."

"Au revoir!" She called as we left the Gym.

"Okay, there's only an hour until the Contest. Let's go pick up our stuff from the Pokémon Center and get over to the Contest Hall."

When we got to the Contest Hall, the attendant at the front desk showed us each to a change room. "You can change into your Contest clothing in here," she told me. "Since this is your first Contest, we've provided you with a complimentary Fashion Case with a number of accessories for your Pokémon. Your Contest starts in forty-five minutes. You and your Wingull are entry number one. Good luck!" She left the room, and I began to put on the dress.

I looked in the mirror. "I think it suits me," I mused. "Maybe I should do something with my hair, though...?"

"_I can help_!" Sydney offered eagerly.

"That's okay, little bird. You just eat your Poffins and let me worry about my hair." I looked around in my bag, searching for a hair tie or something, and came across a black ribbon in my old sweater pocket. I shrugged and pulled it out. I grabbed my hair and pulled it into a sleek ponytail at the top of my head, then tied it with the ribbon, leaving the ends to hang to my shoulders, and pulling my hair over my left shoulder.

I reached over and untied the bandana from around Sydney's neck while she ate her Poffins. By the way she was eating them - stuffing her beak with as much Poffin as could fit - I could see that she really liked them.

"_These are awesome! Did Jack help you make them_?"

"Good to know you have so much confidence in my cooking skills," I grumbled good-naturedly.

"_Whatever. They're really good_."

I opened the Fashion Case to see what there was that I could use for the Contest. In it, there were ten sections holding a number of labeled accessories. The ones I had at my disposal were three Fluffs, white, yellow and pink; a yellow and a white feather; one black and one white false moustache - those elicited a giggle from me and Sydney - a pair of black sunglasses, and a flag.

"Well, these could make an interesting costume," I laughed. "Imagine what you'd look like wearing a fake moustache!"

"_What about you_?" Sydney asked innocently, before grabbing the white one and attaching it to my face.

"Ah! Stop it, you - ha!" I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror and couldn't help but giggle at the ridiculousness. For the rest of the time until the Contest began, the two of us messed around with the accessories out of the case.

The attendant came in as we finished putting everything away. "The Contest is about to begin. Please follow me to the stage."

On the stage were a man in a fancy suit, a little girl in a pink skirt and blouse, a woman in a green dress, and a teenage boy in a dress shirt, formal vest, and jeans. The suit man began to speak into a microphone like an MC.

"Welcome to the Normal Rank Cute Contest! We have a wonderful competition coming up today. Let's meet our contestants!" The man turned toward me. "We have Evey and her Wingull, Sydney!" The crowd cheered. "Jenna and her Pichu, Sparky!" The cheering got a little louder. "Anna and her Snubbull, Billy!" The cheering continued. I heard a few wolf-whistles from the crowd, and the woman blushed. "And last, but certainly not least, we have Jacob and his Stunky, Ryan!" The crowd's cheering went on, even while the MC spoke. "Let's get everyone into proper attire for the visual evaluations! Contestants, dress up your Pokémon!"

I was brought backstage to a dressing room by an attendant. "You have sixty seconds to dress your Pokémon with accessories from your Fashion Case. The theme for this Contest is The Coloured. You will be able to use five Accessories. Good luck!" The attendant left and I opened my case. The first thing I pulled out was the black moustache.

"_No. I am not wearing that_."

"Just do it. No one will laugh, I promise."

"_Fine, I'll wear it. But I'm not gonna like it._"

"Don't need to," I grinned, placing the moustache on the end of her beak.

I put the yellow and pink Fluffs on the ear-like parts on her head, the yellow feather on her tail, and the sunglasses on her eyes. Nervously, I waited for the attendant to come and bring us back to the stage. The half minute I had to wait felt like an hour.

"Now let's see what our contestants have come up with! First is Evey's Wingull, Sydney!" The curtain in front of Sydney came up, and the crowd started cheering wildly. I could see a lot of people's hands go up - what was that about?

"Next is Jenna's Pichu, Sparky!" The curtain went up, and the cheering subsided slightly. A few people put their hands up.

"Anna's Snubbull, Billy!" The cheering stayed the way it was, and a few more people's hands went up.

"And finally, Jacob's Stunky, Ryan!" The purple Pokémon was apparently not very well dressed, because only one or two people's hands were up for it.

"Next is the Dance Competition! Can the backup dancers flawlessly follow the leader's moves?! Start the music!"

Our Pokémon were moved to another stage. Sydney was situated in front, while the others were behind her as background dancers.

"Your Pokémon will perform three dance moves, which the background dancers will try to copy. Match the beat of the music! Good luck!"

"Sydney. I'll give you instructions when to do what. Follow them, alright?"

"_Got it_!"

The music started to play - a quick upbeat pop tune. I told Sydney to jump, then step to the left, then move forward. The judges seemed to like it, and only Sparky could follow it. Next measure, I told her to jump twice quickly, then to go forward a beat after that. The judges and crowd cheered. All of the other Pokemon followed, though.

Next up was Sparky. Sydney followed her first measure with no problem, but missed one of the moves in the second. Billy's moves were easily followed. Then Ryan... Sydney had a lot of difficulty following him. His moves came in rapid succession, and she missed four of the total six.

"That's it for the Dance Competition! Leading in points right now is Evey! Can anyone turn things around in the Acting Competition?"

The stage was moved around so that we each got a place to plan our moves before we presented them to the judges. There were three judges: a teenager named Jordan, a twenty-something woman named Kiera, and the MC, Dexter.

Sydney and I were supposed to perform first. "How about we start with a Water Gun to Dexter?"

"_Works for me_!" She agreed, leaving the stall. She faced Dexter and fired a jet of water. It landed on the target attached to the front of his stall. On a big screen over the stage, and a smaller one inside our stall, Sydney's picture showed how many points she had earned. The points were based on the crowd's reaction to the move, and how impressed the judge was with the manner in which the Pokémon used the move. Sydney earned three points.

"_Did I do okay_?" She asked, gliding back into the stall.

"You did great," I assured her absently, nervously focused on the appeals of the other Pokémon. Fortunately, the only one who earned the same amount of points as Sydney was Ryan the Stunky, but he had shared a judge with another Pokémon, so his final score wasn't as high.

We went last in the next turn. I had Sydney use Growl to Kiera. She flew right up in the woman's face and growled adorably, which made the crowd go nuts. Sydney collected a lot of extra points that round, even though she shared her judge with three out of four Pokémon.

We were last again that round. Sydney aimed her Water Gun for Jordan, but missed the target and got him instead - at least the crowd was happy. Sydney didn't really get any points for that one.

On the last round, we went first, returning to Dexter to use Growl. We got a good score for being the only contestants to appeal to him.

"That's the end of the evaluations! Now for the tabulation of the results!" Dexter spoke into a microphone. I could hear the crowd cheering and shouting excitedly as we were brought out to center stage again.

"First, the results of the Visual Competition!" Four bars with our Pokemon's names on them appeared on the big screen. The green bar under Sydney's name rocketed forward to take up a third of the space under her name. The other bars didn't get near that far. "Next, the Dance Competition!" The next third of Sydney's space was taken up by a pink bar. The other Pokemon's bars weren't as long comparatively, but the pink portions were. "And finally, the Acting Competition!" Sydney's space was filled completely. Sparky's totaled at three-quarters of the space. Billy's was a little higher than that. Ryan's was lower than both.

"And the winner of the Normal Rank Cute Contest is Evey's Wingull, Sydney!" Sydney's beak dropped open.

"_Didn't see that coming_," she said numbly as I walked up to Dexter with her sitting on my head.

"Congratulations! Please accept this Ribbon as a prize!" I took the small pink Ribbon from him and handed it to Sydney, who took it in her beak and held it up triumphantly.

After the applause from the audience, we were led back into the change rooms, where I changed back into my regular clothes and put Sydney's new Ribbon on her bandana.

I walked out into the lobby of the Contest Hall, where I spotted Jack talking with a black-haired teenage boy with a Pikachu on his shoulder. When Jack spotted me, he waved me over.

"This is Evey Pike. She's following me all over the region. Can't seem to get rid of her. Evey, this is Ash Ketchum."

"Hey, nice to meet you!" Ash said brightly, reaching out to shake my hand.

"_Hello_!" His Pikachu greeted.

"_Hi_!" Sydney replied. "_Do you guys travel a lot_?"

"_We've traveled all four regions before_," Pikachu told an awed Sydney. The two continued their conversation while Jack and Ash pulled me into another one.

"So what are you guys here for?" Ash asked. "Most trainers don't come to the Contest Hall at all."

"She dragged me into it," Jack grumbled. "We'd have been in Solaceon by now if it weren't for her dreams of being a famous Coordinator."

"That's not true!" I whacked him on the arm. "I just wanted to try it. And I bet you had fun too."

"Maybe," he shrugged with a smirk. "I won, after all."

"Only because your Vulpix had one better move than Quilava did," Ash grumbled.

Jack laughed. "Face it, Ash, Ruby's a better dancer than your Quilava is any day of the week."

"Don't tease him too badly, Jack. You're so mean sometimes!"

"He's insulting Ruby!" Jack put on a ridiculous fake pout that only made me laugh. "It's not funny!"

"No, just your face," I wheezed.

Jack stared at me like I was crazy, then stage-whispered to Ash, "Is it too late to pretend I don't know her?"

"Think so," Ash answered solemnly, before they both cracked a grin.

Just then, my Pokégear rang. I sighed and took it off my neck, flipping it open. "Hi Dana," I winced.

"Hey Evey! Just wanted to check on you. How's it going? Where are you? Gone out with Jack yet?"

"It's going alright. We're in Hearthome and I just won my first Contest, and no!" I made a fake disgusted face as I spat out the last word. "We're just friends."

"Sure," she replied slyly. I could hear the wink and grin in her voice. "Got any new Pokémon?"

"You know you just phoned me yesterday, right? I didn't catch anything new, but Jack got a Zangoose a little while ago."

"Cool. Zangoose are awesome. Just make sure you keep them away from any Seviper. Trust me, when they're near each other, it's not pretty." I immediately made a plan to catch a Seviper if I saw one.

"Oh, by the way, guess who we met in Hearthome?" I could see Ash making 'don't do it' gestures to me, but I ignored him. "Ash Ketchum was in a Contest against Jack."

"Really?" She squealed, making me hold the phone a few inches away from my ear. "Tell him I said hi! I'm going to try to meet up with him!" She squealed again, and hung up the phone.

"She says she's going to try to meet up with you." I arranged my face into a solemn expression. "You'd better run while you still can. She was fangirl squealing."

Ash's face paled. "I'm outta here," he replied, then grabbed my Pokégear and entered something into it. "Here, here's my number. Maybe we can meet for a battle or something."

"Yeah, maybe."

"_See ya_!" Sydney called to Pikachu, who waved back as his trainer bolted out of the Contest Hall.

I checked the time on my Pokégear. It was nine thirty. The curfew for the Pokémon Center was ten. "We better get back to the Pokémon Center."

"Let`s go, then." We got back just in time and headed immediately to bed. I let all my Pokémon out of their Poké balls to spend the night on my bed with me. The warmth and comfort helped me fall asleep faster.

* * *

**A/N**: Hey, look at that! I got another chapter done in less than two weeks even though I had school today! So we are officially finished with Hearthome, and on to Solaceon next chapter. May or may not explore the Ruins, depends on what my muse comes up with...

Bubblegum: Glad I made your day! Here`s your update.

Please review! I write this stuff for me, but I also write this stuff for you guys, so I'd love some feedback.


	12. Onward and Northward

**Disclaimer**: Don't I wish. I'm too poor to own Harry Potter or Pokémon.

* * *

Chapter 12

Onward and Northward

The next morning, I woke up early, around six. I tried to go back to sleep, but just couldn't manage it. I sighed, got up, pulled on my jacket, and went for a walk.

A minute after I walked out of the Pokémon Center doors, I felt a slight weight settle on my head. I looked up just before white and green obscured my vision.

"Morning Sydney," I yawned, pushing her wings off of my eyes.

"_Aw, I thought I was gonna surprise you. Why are you up so early_?"

"Cause I couldn't go back to sleep."

"_Oh. Where are you going_?"

"Just for a walk. Nothin' better to do this early."

"_I'll come along, then_!"

We strolled through the town for a while, watching little kids run around with young Pokémon, their mothers chasing after them, until we arrived at the grey building that I had spotted from the cliffs outside of Hearthome. I walked in curiously.

The building had a solemn but warm feel, like a church that wasn't full of stuffy old people. The stained glass windows were beautiful, intricately created pictures of humans and Pokémon laughing and smiling and just being together. The set on the east side of the building was lit up with the fire of the rising sun, glowing brightly like coloured flames.

"Wow," I whispered, awed. "This building is awesome."

"_It's so pretty_!"

We stayed for a little while, admiring the windows and the decor inside the building, before we left to go find breakfast. We thought it might be a good idea to bring a meal to the Pokémon Center when we went back, so I found a little café that served breakfast and ordered breakfast sandwiches and some Pokémon food (that was fresh, better than the travel stuff in my bag) to go. As soon as we walked into the room, Jack and Alec's noses twitched at the scent of food. The dog Pokémon was at my feet in an instant. Jack took a little longer to wake up.

"Smells good. When'd you learn to cook?" Jack mumbled sleepily.

I chuckled. "I picked it up from a café. Let's eat, everyone!" I added, waking the rest of the Pokémon.

Breakfast was a success, and after cleaning up the room a bit, making sure we had all our belongings, we were off on the path to Solaceon Town.

Along the grassy path a little ways was a river that apparently intersected the path multiple times. Along the first stretch of river were two wooden bridges, each with a person standing on them. Both bridges looked the same, but I had a feeling that one of them was a dead end.

"Sydney, could you check which of these is the right bridge?" She fluttered off, gliding over first one bridge, then the other.

"_The one on the left goes to the ground on the other side of the river_!" She reported.

"Thanks Sydney," I replied, starting on the bridge. Halfway through, the little girl standing on the bridge challenged us.

"Let's battle! Go, Flame and Peek!" The girl sent out a little cream-coloured horse with a flaming mane and a tiny light yellow mouse Pokémon. The first one, according to my Pokedex, was a Ponyta, and the second was a Pichu.

"Let's show her what we're made of, Ace!" Jack sent out his Zangoose.

"You're up, Inuise!" I sent out the black dragon, who reared her head up excitedly.

The girl stared at Inuise, awestruck. "Your Dratini is so pretty!"

"_Thank you, little one_," Inuise said, preening.

"Can I play with her after the battle?"

"Maybe for a little while. Inuise, Twister!"

"Ace, Slash at that Pichu."

"Flame, Peek, watch out!" The Ponyta evaded Inuise's Twister, but Pichu received Ace's claws in its side and went flying. Ace followed after it even though the little mouse wasn't getting up.

"Ace, go for Ponyta! See if you can get it to run into the Twister!"

The frightened Fire-type was on the run from the tornado. When Ace ran in front of the horse, she cried out in fear and tried to avoid Ace.

"Peek, return!" the girl yelled. "Flame, use Slam on that mean Zangoose! Get it out of the way!"

With the twister following closely, the girl's Ponyta threw itself at Ace, knocking her out of the way. Inuise was forced to stop the cyclone before it hit Ace.

"Inuise, Dragon Rage!" I ordered.

"Ace, Fury Swipes!"

"Flame Wheel!" the little girl told her less scared Pokémon. The horse built up the fires on its mane and tail, charging at Ace before a blue-purple fireball from Inuise stopped it its tracks and sent it flying. The flames around its body diminished and faded back into its mane and tail. Ace finished off the little pony with a Fury Swipes attack.

"Flame!" the girl cried, returning it. "You did great."

Inuise slithered up around my shoulders as I walked over to the girl and held out my hand to shake. "Great battle. Your Pokémon did a fantastic job."

"Thanks! Your Pokémon were awesome too!"

I could see her eyes remaining on Inuise, so I pulled her off my shoulders. "Do you want to hold her?" I offered. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack shake his head, but I ignored him.

The girl took hold of Inuise carefully. "She's so pretty! Where did you find her?"

"Well, she found me, really."

"Cool." The girl giggled as Inuise slithered up her arm and draped herself over the girl's shoulders.

A few minutes later, I returned Inuise to her Poké ball and Jack and I left with the girl's number in my Pokégear.

"Well, that was fun," I said as we crossed another section of river. "She was really - what's that?"

I had spotted an eight-foot-tall crumbling collection of rocks. The top looked as though it had been finished at some point, then knocked over, and there were a few stones missing from the lower parts of the pile.

"I think that's the Hallowed Tower," Jack answered.

"Hallowed what?"

"The Hallowed Tower. Apparently Spiritomb, a Ghost Pokémon, can be found here. You have to put something in the tower before Spiritomb will appear, though."

"Cool." We looked at it for a little while, and I ran my hands along the stones.

I looked over at Jack, suddenly remembering a question I wanted to ask him. "When you told Ace that you didn't like to just catch Pokémon..."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Do most people prefer to befriend Pokémon, or just catch them?"

"It's pretty evenly divided," he explained. "A lot of people just catch whatever Pokémon they want to, and a lot of them don't like catching Pokémon who they don't think want to come with them. Bit difficult to figure it out usually, but I've got a bit of an advantage here."

I snorted. "Good to know how you see me." As we continued along the path, we met up with a few trainers who wanted to battle. We won against a couple by the river, and a higher who was running past, but we also met up with a farmer girl whose Rapidash and Ponyta were able to totally flatten us, knocking out Alec and Reaper.

We passed by the Pokémon Tower without entering. I wasn't really interested, and Jack seemed reluctant for some unknown reason. I didn't pry.

Having missed the Pokémon Tower, we got into Solaceon at about noon. We immediately dropped our Pokémon at the Center, because beyond Alec and Reaper's knockouts, our other Pokémon had a few wounds themselves. I thought it might be cool to check out the famous ruins while we were in town, so we walked that way, chatting about pointless things like the weather.

When we got to the entrance of the ruins, I felt something weird about them, but I shrugged it off as a natural reaction. The caves probably felt spooky to everyone. We walked inside, and the first thing I noticed was that this cave wasn't as dark as Mount Coronet. Of course, that might have been because we were in the entrance, but I digress. The walls were carved with the shapes of letters with eyes - Unown letters.

"Top left... Top right... Bottom left... Top right... What do these mean?" I looked at our surroundings and noticed multiple stone staircases. "Oh! They must mean the stairs!" I pulled out my sketchbook and drew the layout of the floor, where each staircase was. Jack looked over my shoulder.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Each direction corresponds to which staircase to take to avoid dead ends. This floor, we should take this one." He pointed at the top left stair on my drawing, then in the room. Then he noticed the opposite page in my sketchbook. "What is this?"

"Nothing," I muttered, blushing. The page feature a drawing of him holding Ruby after our practice battle in Eterna. He pulled my sketchbook out of my hands to look at the picture.

"Looks good. Realistic."

"Yeah, I try. Can I have that back now?"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Yeah." I left the book open to the page that I had written the directions on as we descended the stairs.

Oddly enough, we didn't see any Unown as we explored the ruins, even though the place was supposed to be famous for them. I guess they're all somewhere else.  
We made our way to the lower level of the ruins, one staircase from the bottom.

"I think there's something down there, and it's not good news," Jack told me. "I don't think we should go downstairs."

"Relax, there's nothing to be worried about," I told him. "The only thing down there is probably just some Unown."

We walked down the stairs - slowly, as the light had diminished the lower we went. As we reached the bottom, we heard some voices talking quietly. Jack signaled me to be quiet and listen.

"... Haven't found the girl yet, my lord," came a voice with an overly-familiar accent, "but there is a possibility that she may have been killed in the creature's attack."

"Have you confirmed her death, Lucius?" Came a high, cold voice that caused my heart to skip, then beat like a squirrel's when a cat is in front of him. I pulled Jack back up the stairs a little bit and hissed three words into his ear.

"That's Voldemort's voice!"

"Which, the second one?"

"Yeah! The first one's his second-in-command! If he sees me, I'm so screwed..."

"Then let's get out of here."

"Not yet. I want to find out where the others are."

We snuck back into earshot of Malfoy as he said, "Crabbe and Goyle are searching the less populated areas. Macnair and Rodolphus are searching cities in the west, Rowle and Nott in the east."

"And you, Lucius?"

"I wait for her here. If she is still alive, she will come here eventually."

I pulled back to the stairs. "Okay, I've heard enough. Let's get out of here." we ran up the stairs, ignoring the noise we made, until we heard footsteps behind us. I panicked and pulled out my wand.

"Stupefy!" I cried, aiming it haphazardly behind us. Apparently it did the trick, since the next second, we heard a series of thumps as Malfoy fell down the stairs.

"Nice one," Jack told me as we stopped two floors up. Whether or not Malfoy was seriously injured, neither of us were going to check.

"I'm glad it hit him," I sighed. "We'd have been dead if it didn't."

"Probably. What's with his weird accent, by the way?"

"Everyone from that country talks like that. I don't because I didn't grow up there."

Jack nodded. "So... His buddies are in all the towns and stuff. Should we avoid cities?"

"No, just potentially homicidal strangers."

"At least you can joke about it. I don't really want to die anytime soon, thanks." We exited the ruins and stepped into the sunlight. "Anything else you want to do while we're here, or are you finished getting us killed?"

"Very droll. I actually wanted to check out the Pokémon Daycare."

"Planning on ditching Sydney?"

"Planning on running a comedy club? You could be the main attraction!"

"Nope, a circus. Want to work in the Freak Tent?" I glared at him. He offered a smirk in return.

"... I think you win this round. But I'll win the next one!"

"That remains to be seen," he answered sagely, smirking triumphantly as we entered the Pokémon Center.

After we picked up our Pokémon, we dropped by the Daycare. There were all kinds of Pokémon there, all owned by other trainers - practically everything from Abra to Zubat was on the Daycare's huge plot of land. There always also a large nursery area for the many Pokémon eggs that were occasionally laid in the Daycare. That was where I got my next Pokémon.

In the nursery, the old man and woman who ran the Daycare had found an egg that didn't come from any of the trainers' Pokemon. They had offered the egg to some of the trainers who came by the Daycare, since they couldn't keep it - some policy or something - but none of them wanted it. As a result, they offered the egg to me, and I took it.

"We don't know what it'll hatch into, but I'm sure it'll be a help to you on your journey. Make sure to keep it safe," the old man wheedled with a grin.

"Of course I will," I assured them, tucking it carefully into my bag and wrapping it in my extra sweater. "Thank you!"

We left Solaceon Town at about two in the afternoon, planning on traveling at least part of the route to Celestic Town before sundown. The first part of the trail was overgrown with grass up to my knees; it was slow going, since we had nothing to thin out the grass with.

Just over a little hill, we spotted a Staravia tending its nest in a nearby tree. Actually, the Flying-type noticed us first; we inadvertently passed too close to its tree, and it attacked us. Ruby managed to hold it off long enough for us to escape, albeit with minor scrapes and bruises.

About an hour past that, during which it started raining, and we got lost and turned around multiple times, we came upon a little log cabin that looked warm and inviting. We went in and found a little café that was serving Moomoo Milk. Jack and I ordered a bottle for each of us, and a bottle for each of our Pokémon. They also served dinner, so Jack got a Traveling Trainer Combo Platter (I never figured out what was on it, because Jack was all over it as soon as the plate landed on the table) and I got a large plate of pancakes.

"Pancakes for dinner?" Jack asked around his mouthful.

"Why not? You've got... whatever that stuff is," I replied once I had swallowed.

He shrugged. "Guess so."

We paid for our meals and left the café around seven. We had decided to travel until around nine, then make camp and get to bed. Almost as soon as we passed the café - maybe a couple of minutes or so past it - the way ahead of us became shrouded in mist.

"Let's just keep walking for a while," Jack decided. "Might as well get somewhere."

"_Like lost_," Sydney grumbled, but I followed him anyway.

Just before we stopped to camp, Jack accidentally stepped wrong, and tripped, landing in a Linoone's burrow. For the second time that day, we got attacked by an angry Pokémon, and Ruby and Sydney had to bail us out. We escaped by climbing a tree and waiting until it was gone.

"Seriously, what is it with us and Pokemon's homes?"

"Don't really know, don't really care. As long as we're safe, it doesn't matter." Jack pulled out a Potion and healed Ruby, while I borrowed an Oran berry, roasted it on a stick, and handed it to a significantly less hurt Sydney.

Across the campfire, Jack gave me a look. "So that guy in the Solaceon Ruins... He's with that Voldemort guy?"

"Lucius Malfoy," I spat the name as though it was poison, "is Voldemort's right hand, pretty much. He basically licks Voldemort's boots clean for him."

"Nothing worse than an evil suck-up," Jack remarked flippantly.

"Not much more pathetic," I agreed, a half smile on my face. Something made my bag move a second later. "Huh?"

I opened it and picked up my egg. The egg shifted a little when I put my hands on it.

"It's going to hatch soon," Jack predicted. "Maybe even tomorrow."

"That would be cool. Wonder what's in it?" I mused. "Guess we'll find out tomorrow. Night, Jack." I entered my tent with my Pokémon in tow.

"Goodnight," he called.

* * *

A/N: That's that! Wow, I've been updating quickly lately. Hope it keeps up. Our two heroes are on the way to Celestic Town, where they'll meet Evey's dad and maybe find out the truth behind her mysterious hybrid status. Sooo... Before we confirm it, any theories?

Guest (on chapter three): You're a little late on the poll, but I'll consider putting in an Aipom for you.

On that subject, how about a little poll? What, of these, do we want from the egg? Poll will be on my profile, too. I'm closing the poll on Thursday, so that's February 14. I'm single, so I have nothing to do but work on Valentine's Day, haha.

Charmander

Absol

Farfetch'd

Growlithe

Riolu

Seviper

Gible

Starly

Please review and vote! Thanks to my reviewers this chapter, and for all past chapters too. I'm proud of the response this story has gotten! I'm glad you're all enjoying it.


	13. Family Bonding

**Disclaimer**: I tried to tell Nintendo that I own Pokémon, but they just laughed me out of Japan. And closed the borders on me. They didn't really need to be so rude about it... Sheesh.

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Family Bonding

I woke with a start at about three, coming out of a confusing nightmare in which Jack's face had melted to reveal one that I recognized from old photos, then changed to become an evilly grinning Voldemort, who raised his wand at me...

I didn't need a psychic to tell me what that meant. I was worried about meeting my dad.

I tried to go back to sleep, but after a few minutes of lying in bed staring at the ceiling of my tent, I gave up and left the tent to sit by the fire. Jack was on the ground beside it, watching the flames, but looked up when I unzipped my tent.

"Hey."

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked, sitting beside him.

"What kind of a greeting is that?" he teased.

"Okay, fine. Hi. Now answer the question."

He rolled his eyes, but obliged. "I never sleep well. Insomnia, it's called."

"I'm familiar with the term. So you never sleep?"

"Not really."

I shrugged. "Guess it explains the whole..." I mimed circles under my eyes like the ones he had.

"Yeah." He studied the flames for a short while longer, then glanced at me out of the corners of his eyes. "So... Your dad is going to meet us in Celestic Town."

I couldn't explain the odd happy feeling that went through me when he said 'us', even though I knew he probably meant our Pokémon and us, as compared to just us two. "Yeah. Finally get to tell him in person that Mom died while she was waiting for him."

"No love lost between you two, huh?"

"He abandoned me and my mom when I was a baby. She had to raise me on her own, even though he promised her he'd come back." I let out a short, bitter laugh. "So no. There's no love lost there."

"Easy. We'll see him later." He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "It's kind of cold out here."

"We are up north. It does make sense." I still moved closer to him, leaning my head on his shoulder and watching the dying embers of our campfire. Jack apparently didn't mind, because he didn't push me off, like I thought he would.

I must have dozed off at some point, because when I woke up, I was lying with my head on Jack's chest and his arms around me. He was still asleep, so I gently pulled out of his grasp.

Of course, he was a light sleeper, so he woke up when his hand touched the ground. "Huh? Whazzap?"

"Morning. You actually slept for once!"

"Mmh? Oh, yeah, so I did." He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stood up, stretching. "Guess I better get breakfast started, huh?"

"Yeah. You need the fire built up?"

"Yeah, I got it." He went to go for his tent, but I stopped him, drawing my wand.

"Here, let me do it. Toss a log in there?" He placed a log on the ashes from the night before. I pointed my wand at it. "Incendio!" The log began to burn, crackling merrily.

He watched the flames appreciatively. "Thanks. You want to get the Pokemon's breakfast ready?"

"Yeah." I ducked into my tent, only to have my face jumped on by a wide white shape.

"_Did I scare ya_?" Sydney asked.

"... Sure." I disengaged her from my face. She pouted, as well as she could with a beak on her face.

"_You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you_?" She asked somewhat dejectedly.

I chuckled. "You can't really scare me." I grabbed the Pokémon food and bowls from my bag and brought them outside, then ducked back in to check on my egg. It was starting to warm slightly, moving every so often, so I carried it with me as I distributed the Pokémon food.

Jack glanced at it as I passed him. "Moving more?"

"Little bit. I think I'm going to carry it myself today."

"Makes sense," he shrugged.

"What will the Pokémon eat when it hatches?" I frowned. "It won't be able to eat solid food yet, will it?"

"Probably not. Depending on what Pokémon it is, you'll want to chop up Berries really small so it can eat them."

"I can't wait for it to hatch..." I said anxiously. "Let's get on the move soon."

Jack chuckled. "Maybe let's eat breakfast first."

I bounced excitedly all through breakfast, and got a little overenthusiastic in taking down the tents with magic, making the tent collapse on Inuise when she went to grab my bag.

"Sorry Inuise!" I cried, lifting up the tent to free her.

She just laughed. "_I'm fine. Don't worry_."

We moved on as soon as possible, trekking through the heavy fog up small cliffs and through knee-high grass. We came across a river or something similar about an hour and a half after leaving camp, so we stopped to take a rest and let our Pokémon out.

Sydney, Inuise, Ace, Reaper and Tricks splashed around and swam for a while, and Alec and Spitfire watched them, discussing tactics for fighting in places with water.

Jack watched the two talk interestedly. "What are they saying?"

"Well, Alec thinks that when they're fighting on water, they should try jumping in and heating up the water so that any attacking Pokémon would get overheated, but Spitfire's calling him an idiot and educating him on the laws of physics... Or something like that. I never really studied science."

"Too bad," Jack murmured distractedly. "Spitfire's right, Alec. Fire can't exist underwater. But you could heat up the water from the outside."

Alec and Spitfire paused in their conversation. "_That could work, I guess_..." Alec allowed, "_but it would take a long time..._"

I translated, and Jack replied, "Heating up any amount of water takes time, but if you really concentrated all the heat in one spot, you'd almost have a hot water shield, since..."

"... _Most Water-type Pokémon can't handle heat_," Spitfire finished. "_See, my trainer's pretty smart after all_."

"I think Spitfire's proud of you, Jack- oh!" The egg, which I was carrying in my arms, suddenly lurched, and a crack sounded. "The egg's hatching!" I laid it on the ground gently, just as it shuddered again and a visible crack formed in the shell. The egg moved once more, then again, the crack widening each time, then, with one last, longer movement, the shell split into small fragments. Sitting in the middle of the largest fragment was a little jackal Pokémon. Red fur covered its head, with a strip of black over its eyes like a mask. Its ears were black as well, as was its upper chest and feet. Its paws and lower chest were red, it had little bumps on its forearms, and it had a green collar-thing around its neck.

It looked over at me and outstretched its paws. "_Mama_?"

I reached out and picked him up. "Yeah, I'm your mama," I cooed.

Jack rolled his eyes. "What is it about girls and babies?"

I turned with my new little boy in my arms to glare at him. "He's adorable. Aren't you, little guy?" I ignored Jack's second eye roll as I hugged my new Pokémon gently and pulled out my Pokédex, aiming it at him. My new team member looked with interest as the machine made a dinging noise and information came up on it.

'Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves.'

Riolu snuggled into my arms and my grin widened. "You need a name, little guy... I'm going to call you Adrian."

"_Adrian. Mama's Adrian_?"

"Yeah. You're my little Adrian."

Sydney came over to sit on my shoulder and look closely at Adrian. "_He's so cute! Can I keep him_?"

"He's not a pet that followed you home, Sydney."

Adrian looked up at Sydney curiously and reached for one of her feet. "_Sydney_?"

"_Yeah, I'm Sydney! What's his name_?" she added quietly to me.

"Adrian."

"_Hi Adrian! You're so cute_!"

"Okay, as much as I hate to break up this little love-fest, we should probably get moving," Jack interjected.

I sighed and recalled my Pokémon except for Sydney and Adrian. "We were having a moment, Jack."

"Sorry, but we do have to go."

Then, my Pokégear rang. It startled Adrian a little; then he recovered and picked it up to play with it cautiously.

"Hey, I need that, buddy," I said gently, carefully extracting it from his paws. Sydney, who was cleaning her wings, offered Adrian a loosened feather to play with while I was on the phone.

It was Dana. "Hey, Evey!" She squealed. Adrian looked at the Pokégear with a somewhat startled expression on his face. "What's going on?"

"I'm headed up to Celestic Town. I think we're around halfway or so there? And I got an egg in Solaceon, and it just hatched."

"Aww, that's great! I love baby Pokémon. What Pokémon is it? Is it a boy or girl? What did you name it?"

"He's a Riolu, and I named him Adrian."

"Aw, that's a great name! You'd better take really good care of him, or else!" She mock scolded.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah. I'll be sure to do that. What's going on with you? Manage to catch up to Ash yet?" I snickered.

"No, he ran away before I could get there," she pouted. "I'll get him next time, though!"

"Sure ya will," I mumbled. "Well, I probably better get going. Talk to you later, Dana." I hung up before she could say anything else. Adrian watched the Pokégear as I stowed it inside my shirt.

"_Bad person_?"

I chuckled. "No, baby, just annoying." I turned to Jack. "Let's go, shall we?"

We carried on in the general direction of Celestic Town - or so Jack said. I had Sydney check our direction just above the fog bank, and she told me that if we kept going in that same direction, we'd reach Celestic in maybe an hour or two. I sliced up a Berry for Adrian to eat while we walked - a spicy one called an Occa Berry, apparently able to reduce damage from Fire-type attacks if used in battle.

One hour and a half later, the fog diminished and we saw multiple old-fashioned buildings surrounding a crater of sorts. A few older people were walking around the buildings, speaking with each other and just generally idling. We spotted the Pokémon Center and headed over to get our Pokémon checked over, especially Adrian.

"Your Riolu is doing just fine. You should feed him soft Pokémon food and Berries for about two weeks, then move on to solid food," the nurse told me with a smile.

"Thank you!"

I couldn't see anyone in Celestic - at least not outside, and not in the Pokémon Center - so I decided that I wanted to see the famous Cave of Origin, a shrine to Palkia, Dialga and Arceus, while Jack decided to see if he could replenish our supplies while he had some time.

I entered the cave and gasped at the amazing paintings inside. They were done in archaic style with little detail, but they were beautiful anyway.

"_Mama, touch_?"

A plaque at the door asked visitors to please not touch the paintings. "No, we can't touch the wall, Adrian. I'm going to draw the walls, though, so you can touch them after."

"_Touch later_." Adrian settled down to play with Sydney a little bit while I recorded the cave paintings in my sketchbook.

* * *

(**A/N**: I'm going to tell this part from a third-person POV, following Jack. I thought of something short but kinda funny to go here. Promise it's short.)

Jack walked into the little store, cursing mentally. It had taken him almost ten minutes to find the family-owned store, since he was looking for a Poke Mart.

When he had picked up everything that the team would need, including soft Pokémon food for Adrian, he was approached on his way out of the store.

"You are a traveling Trainer, are you not?" Asked a tall, powerfully built man with bright red hair and odd violet eyes.

"Yeah, what about it?" Jack queried in reply, wishing he had Evey's magical bag to carry all the purchases.

"I'm waiting to meet my daughter; she was supposed to meet me in this town. Have you ever encountered a trainer who called herself Alexandra or Evey Pike?"

Jack smirked amusedly. Evey would never believe this. "I'm traveling with her, actually. She wanted to check out the Cave of Origin. I'll wait for her with you, I guess."

"Arceus," the man breathed, looking up slightly. "That is an extraordinary coincidence. Will she be long?"

"Probably not too long. I'm Jack Napier," Jack introduced, extending his hand. Evey's dad took it in a firm but not overly tight grip.

"Edward Pike."

* * *

I recorded the cave paintings in about an hour and a half. I figured Jack would be done shopping by then, but I didn't see him when I exited the cave. I ascended the stairs and found him standing with a tall redheaded man, talking. I approached the two reluctantly, tossing my bag at Jack as he turned to me. He put the supplies in gladly.

"Hey Evey."

"Hey, Jack." I turned a glare on the man who I realized was my father. "Dad."

"Alexandra."

I was getting upset just from the sight of him. "Mom's dead," I whispered angrily. "You abandoned me, left me to grow up in an orphanage. And you promised that you'd come back!" I threw myself at him haphazardly, extending my fist and hitting his nose. It began streaming blood that nearly matched his hair.

I continued my angry assault. Taken by surprise, Dad stepped backward, raising his arms to stop my attack on his ribcage.

"Alexandra! I can explain everything!" He cried at me, trying to grab my fists.

"I don't want to hear it!" I screamed, dancing out of range of his hands. "You didn't care about us - I could have died and you wouldn't have even noticed!"

Suddenly, I couldn't move my body anymore. My dad's eyes were glowing, and he was glaring at me.

"While you're immobilized, listen. I left you and your mother because I was forced to, not because I didn't love you. I did. I loved both of you. I promised to come back to the two of you when you were older. I did return - I went back to our house in the town where you were born when you were ten years of age. The neighbours told me that you and your mother had moved several years after I left, moved to Britain. I searched for you and your mother in London, because she had always wanted to live there. I found your address, but when I arrived at the house, and office building was standing at the site. I couldn't find you, as hard as I looked, and I was forced to return here, my home world, five months after I returned."

His eyes took on a pained expression. "I wish now that I had never had to leave. When I heard that someone matching your description had been seen in the Sinnoh region -"

"... You sent your friend to find me," I finished. My mouth could still move, even if the rest of me couldn't.

"Yes," he confirmed. "I had wanted to bring you and your mother to this world so that you could train Pokémon when you came of age."

"_But why did you have to come back here before finding Evey_?" Ruby asked.

Before I could translate, Dad answered her. "I have duties in this world. I am someone against whom trainers test themselves."

"You're a member of a Pokémon League?" I asked. "And a hybrid, I guess."

"I am not a member of a Pokémon League, nor am I a hybrid. My status is rather... complicated... and I would prefer that it remains a secret for the time being." He looked kind of uncomfortable. The part of me that was still angry at him didn't care, but the majority of me was willing to let it lie for now.

"So... Now what?" I asked. "We've met... Now what's going to happen? I have something that I need to do while I'm here..."

"You will complete your task, and we may talk afterwards. What is it that you have to do?"

"It's kind of a secretive subject, but we can talk about it later."

"Very well. I own a Pokégear, so we can keep in touch using it."

"Okay." I handed him my Pokégear and he registered his number in it, then registered my number in his own.

"You may call me at any time, for advice or help if needed." He turned to Jack. "Take care of my daughter while she is performing her duty."

Jack straightened slightly and smiled a bit. "Of course I will. She couldn't live without me, could you?" He teased me.

I thumped Jack on the arm. "Shut up. I can take care of myself just fine."

"Tell that to my charred frying pan - ow!"

I rolled my eyes. "Overgrown baby."

Dad watched us with some amusement. "I trust that the two of you will be fine."

"Yeah, we'll be great. Bye, Dad," I mumbled.

Jack and I left Celestic Town that afternoon to head to Veilstone City to get the fighting Gym badge. I wondered what my dad was, if not a hybrid, that would mean I was a hybrid. I shook off that train of thought after a while to carefully run after Jack through the heavy fog on the route to Veilstone.

* * *

**A/N**: And... Chapter! I would have made it longer, but I have work later and I wanted to get this up. Plus, the 18th was my birthday, so I wanted to give you a present... And I'm going on vacation next week, so I don't know if I'll be updating at all next week. Thanks to all of you for voting. As you can see, the winner of the poll was Riolu, followed by Absol.

Blastburnman: Thanks for your vote. Riolu was oddly colured, similar to what you asked for... but really, the idea of a newly hatched Riolu already having mastered Aura is more than a little unrealistic.

Please review! Your ideas and feedback help me confirm that I write pretty well, and if you have an idea, I will usually do my best to incorporate it somehow. Thanks!


	14. Southbound to Veilstone

**Disclaimer**: That disclaimer over there makes this one here seem a bit superfluous, really. (Yes, that was a _Pirates_ reference) You guys know what I own by now. Unless you're the type that doesn't catch on easily. In which case, I really only own Evey, Jack, and their Pokemon's nicknames.

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Chapter 14

Southbound to Veilstone

Past the foggy part of the route - which we managed to get past in under four hours this time - and past the little cafe cabin, there was a branch route that led east.

"So this path leads to Veilstone City, huh?" I wondered out loud. "Sydney, can you see if you can find the quickest route?"

"_Finally, I get to do something! I've been sitting for too long_!" She made a show of stretching her wings and practicing flapping her wings. "_You gotta let me do stuff more_!"

"No need to be snippy about it," I grumbled.

Adrian looked up from the Berry he was quietly nibbling on. "_Mama, I go too_?"

"No, sweetie, it's dangerous," I said.

"_Aw, come on_!" Sydney protested. "_He's really little. I could carry him. I'd be really careful, promise_!"

"Well..." I said reluctantly.

Adrian looked up at me with the most adorable begging expression. "_Mama, please_?"

"... Okay, fine, you can go." Past the cheers from the two, I added, "But if Adrian has even one scratch on him, you're gonna be in big trouble, Sydney."

She just rolled her eyes as I placed the little red Riolu on her back. Adjusting his position slightly, she walked down my arm so I could give her a boost. I tossed her up in the air, and after a few seconds of laboured flapping, she began to fly smoothly over the unknown path.

Jack chuckled, smirking at me. "A little overprotective, are we?"

I rolled my own eyes. "He's only a baby. I don't want him to get hurt."

"I can see that," he replied.

A few minutes later, Sydney and Adrian came back into sight. The two were soaked, but laughing.

I extended my arm, but in true Sydney style, the bird ignored my arm and landed on my head. She passed Adrian down to me in her beak.

"It's raining," she reported unnecessarily. "_There's a few cliffs and stuff on the first part of the path, and then a couple of ledges and a straight walk through a bit of forest_."

"Thanks," I told her. "Let's see if I can't remember that one charm... Not Impedimenta... Not Reducto... What is it again?"

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked over my muttering.

"No... Oh! That's it!" I pulled out my wand and pointed it at my jacket. "Impervius!"

Jack waited a second, probably expecting some kind of noise. When nothing happened, he frowned. "What did that do?"

"It made my jacket waterproof, so I won't get wet. I should probably do it to the rest of me too... Or at least my face." I pointed my wand at myself and cast Impervius again. I pointed it at Jack's face. "Want me to do it to you too?"

He shrugged. "Might as well."

I cast it on his face, then on his jacket. Ruby wanted me to waterproof her too, but Jack intervened, saying, "What if it doesn't wear off? It would give you an unfair advantage in battles."

"_Okay, then I'm jumping into your jacket_." Jack stumbled back half a step as she jumped onto his chest and burrowed underneath his coat. Chuckling, he zipped it up over her.

We started running down the path. After about a minute or two, when large cliffs and bridges were coming into view, the sky turned into a heavy gray cloud blanket and poured water over us. My spell worked, apparently, since the rain didn't land on our faces, instead bouncing off of an invisible barrier about half a centimeter away.

Stairs had been cut into the cliffs in front of us. Jack accelerated and blasted past me up the stairs, laughing at me while I trotted up carefully. I scowled at him when I reached the top.

"When you fall, I'm gonna laugh so hard," I told him. "You will fall if you run around up here."

"I never fall," he bragged. "I have great balance."

Then, he took off running across the soaked wooden bridge to the next cliff, and fell on his butt halfway over. I burst out laughing as he turned and halfheartedly glared at me.

"I meant to do that," he muttered, picking himself up.

I crossed carefully over to him, although I was still laughing. "Sure ya did, klutz."

He scowled again, shoved my arm, and crossed the rest of the bridge. I stumbled from his push and righted myself quickly, hugging Adrian tighter to my chest.

"Jerk!" I called, running after him, but the effect was kind of ruined when I laughed.

We ran through the pouring rain up and down cliffs, over rather rickety wooden bridges, and through puddles that came up to our ankles. We only stopped when a passing hiker challenged us.

"Inuise, you're up!" I called, sending out the black dragon.

"Ace!" Jack called simply, tossing her Poke ball into the air.

"Geodude! Onix! Crush these Pokémon!" Geodude came out of the Poke ball with fists clenched, and Onix landed on the ground with a roar.

"Inuise! Show that Onix a Dragon Rage!"

"Ace! Turn that Geodude into gravel with a Fury Swipes attack!"

"Geodude, Rock Blast, Onix, Iron Tail!" Our opponent ordered.

Geodude hurled a barrage of rocks in Ace's direction, but she dodged them and closed on the rock Pokémon. Inuise built up a fireball, but had to let it go in a random direction to dodge Onix's tail. The fire soared over Onix's head, but Inuise managed to dodge the rock snake's attack.

Ace's claws were taking tiny chunks off of Geodude, but they were mostly ineffective. Drawing its arms in close, Geodude pushed Ace away from it and followed up with a tackle. Ace was sent flying back.

Inuise had built up another fireball and sent it flying towards Onix's head. It connected with its eye, and the snake roared in pain, thrashing its tail around wildly.

"Now follow it up!" I called. "Use Twister!"

She sent a whirlwind flying. The wind picked up three rocks and a branch off of the ground and sent them spinning at Onix's eye. It thrashed uncontrollably in pain, narrowly missing hitting Ace but knocking Geodude into the ground. Onix shook for a few more seconds before it fell over unconscious.

"Good job, Onix!" The trainer called, returning Onix to its Poke ball. "It's Seviper's turn now!"

Out of the next Poke ball cam a black and purple snake with a foot-long blade on its tail and yellow-rimmed eyes. I supposed that this was the Pokémon that had a feud with Zangoose, but oddly enough, when the snake caught sight of Ace, its eyes bugged out. After it had recovered, it did the oddest thing: it ran its blade over its head. I had a feeling that if Seviper was a human, it would be smoothing its hair back.

"_Hey baby, what's shaking_?" The snake Pokémon asked Ace in a smooth, suave male's voice. "_Has anyone ever told you that you are one gorgeous Pokémon_?"

I was barely able to stop myself from laughing.

"What is the snake saying?" Jack asked me in a hushed whisper.

"He's... flirting with her," I gasped, giggling silently. "How does that even work?"

Ace narrowed her eyes at Seviper. "_Are you hitting on me_?"

"_I'm trying to be nice. You really are a stunner. I'd hit that any _-" He was cut off by one of Ace's paws hitting him in the face, like a slap.

"_No one hits on me without getting hit back_," she seethed. Ace marched over to Jack, scowling.

"Inuise, hit Geodude with a Dragon Rage!" I ordered, trying to sound like I didn't know what had just happened.

Jack shook his head, grinning, then gave me a look like I would have to tell him exactly what had happened later. "Ace, Slash."

"Seviper, Poison Fang! Geodude - look out!" Cried the other trainer as Inuise sent a fireball towards the rock Pokémon. Geodude moved too slowly, thanks to its wounds from Onix, and was knocked out by the fireball.

Seviper, meanwhile, was trying to explain itself to Ace while he dodged her claws. "_I meant it as a compliment, babe_!"

"_You're still a slimy snake_!" She growled, delivering a powerful slash to Seviper's face that knocked him back.

"Finish him with Fury Swipes, Ace," Jack called, grinning. Whether it was from amusement or from just about winning the battle, I wasn't sure.

Ace was on Seviper in an instant, attacking his scaly body with her sharp claws. Seviper tried to knock her away with his tail, but she was too intent on knocking him out that she didn't even flinch. Seviper was down and out a few seconds later.

Inuise went over to Ace and kind of high-fived her, slapping Ace's paw with the end of her tail.

"_That Seviper had no respect_."

"_Still annoying, though_," Ace grumbled.

"You kids have some tough Pokémon," our opponent grinned. "And you Dratini is a very interesting colour - huh?" He was still looking at her. I glanced over, then did a double-take as I realized that she was glowing.

"What's going on? Inuise?" I asked nervously.

Jack chuckled at my reaction. "Relax, she's just evolving."

The glow surrounding Inuise's body became longer and more slender. About thirty seconds after she had started to glow, the light faded, leaving a long, skinny dragon on the ground.

The colouring of the dragon was the same as Inuise's - black back and a pink belly. It was a lucky thing, too, because I might have otherwise thought that someone else's dragon had replaced mine.

On her neck, right below her chin, there was a pink pearl the size of a golf ball. Her snout had become a little less prominent, becoming thinner and slightly longer. The wings on her head had also become longer, and the little nub on her forehead had changed into a short, sharp-looking horn.

"Holy... Wow. You look great, Inuise!" She came over to me and wrapped herself around my shoulders twice. There was still enough of her tail left over to be able to almost touch the ground, though.

Sydney hopped off my head and onto her back. "_Cool! I know a Dragonair_!"

"Maybe you'll be able to evolve soon too, Sydney," I said quietly.

"_Maybe. But I like being a Wingull, though_!"

The other trainer watched me with a smile on his face. A really wide one. "Congratulations, kid. Good luck, wherever you're going."

"Thanks. Good luck to you too." The man walked away, and Jack turned to me.

"So, what did that Seviper say to Ace that got her all riled up?"

"Oh, well, he said..." I started as we carried on walking toward Veilstone City.

By about eight at night, we had made it into the beginnings of the trees Sydney had mentioned. Jack and I argued about whether or not to make camp here or keep going to reach Veilstone today. In the end, we wound up sending Sydney to find out how far we still were.

"_At your pace, maybe two or three hours_," she said as she landed back on my head and as Adrian reached up to grab her tail feathers. "_Ouch_!"

I looked up in her direction. "Are you calling us slow?" I asked suspiciously.

"_No, of course not. Why would I do that_?" She answered mock innocently. "_Not the tail, little guy_," she added as Adrian tugged at her feathers again.

Jack sighed. "Looks like we're gonna sleep out here, then." I tossed my bag onto the ground, put Adrian down, and started rummaging through it to find the tents. I didn't notice Adrian run off towards a tree.

"Here they are," I grinned triumphantly as I pulled both tent packs out of my bag. Jack took his and began to put it up with the help of Ace.

"So, we're going to face Veilstone Gym tomorrow. Do you know what type that Gym is?" I asked as Alec helped me put up my own tent.

"Veilstone's Fighting type, I think."

"So we'll have to work on Wing Attack, Sydney," I remarked to the seagull Pokémon.

"_Yeah, Evey? I think we have something else to worry about..._" She was staring at a tree.

"What is it?" I dropped the tent pole I was holding to look at the tree. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about it, so I turned away to finish with my tent. Alec, however, had dashed to the base of the tree. "Alec, what's wrong?"

"_Adrian climbed the tree and can't get down_!" Alec barked urgently. I immediately dashed over.

"_Mama! I'm scared_!" Adrian cried from a high branch.

"I know, sweetie!" I was panicking. As bad as I was at flying, I wished I had a broom. "Sydney, can you grab him and bring him down?"

"_I wouldn't be able to get out of there with him! The branches are too close together_!" She seemed to be panicking, too. "_Hang on, Adrian_!"

Jack came over, realizing something was happening. "Ace, could you get Adrian out of there?"

Ace considered the tree, then nodded. "_I could get the branches out of the way with my claws_."

"But what if you hit Adrian?" I asked, terrified. Then, a _crack_ sounded from the tree above us. I could feel the blood rush out of my cheeks as I weakly muttered, "Never mind. No time."

Ace sunk her claws into the tree trunk and began to pull herself up the tree. When she reached the height of the branch Adrian was on, she started slashing twigs out of the way.

Once enough of the twigs were gone, Ace grabbed Adrian from where he was clinging to a half-broken branch. "_I've got you, little guy. Hold on._"

Adrian clung to her fur as she brought them carefully back to the ground. When she released the tree, Adrian ran right over to me and I picked him up.

"_Mama, I was so scared..._"

"It's okay, sweetie. I got ya," I murmured as he clung to me. Just then another crack came from the tree and Jack tackled me.

"Get out of the way!" He yelled, bringing me and Adrian to the ground while the heavy tree branch fell to the ground, right where I had been standing a moment before.

I screamed. "Oh my god! That was close!" I focused on Jack, who was still lying on top of me. "You saved me.

"Yeah," he muttered.

"Thanks," I mumbled, blushing. His presence was starting to get a _little_ awkward... Fortunately, he pushed himself off of me and offered me a hand up. I took it gratefully and pulled myself to my feet, making sure that Adrian wasn't hurt. He was shaken, but uninjured.

"Don't run off again, okay, Adrian?" I admonished. "Just play with Sydney until I get the tent set up."

"_Okay, Mama. Can I have a Berry_?" I pulled an Oran Berry out of Jack's pouch inside my bag and handed it to him. He sat down and started nibbling on it happily while Sydney watched and Alec and I finished putting up our tent. Afterwards, we had dinner and sat around the fire for a while, talking. I was telling a story about one of my little adventures inside the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts. I conveniently left out the part where I was actually avoiding a Carrow detention in there, since the way I told it was much more interesting.

"So I heard a howling in the distance, coming closer. I was pretty sure it was a werewolf. I was terrified, but I wasn't going to leave. I could hear its footsteps a good distance away. It was pacing, trying to decide whether to eat me in one bite or two, I bet." I grinned as Sydney gasped, leaning a little closer. Jack was just staring at me with a bored expression on his face, as though he didn't believe me.

"_Then what happened_?" Sydney asked eagerly.

"He decided how he wanted to eat me, apparently, because he started running in my direction. He came out from behind a tree beside me and was about to pounce on me when, from out of nowhere, he got hit by an arrow! A painful stick that is supposed to hurt people," I added at my Pokemon's confused looks. "Anyway, a second later, the werewolf got run over by a big, angry centaur! I watched them fight for a while. It was awesome! The centaur was beating up the werewolf so bad, he couldn't even manage to hit the centaur. As soon as they got far enough away, I ran back to the castle, though. I was terrified that I might wind up getting hit by one of them."

"_Wow, Mama, you did some scary things_!" Adrian said excitedly. "_Can you tell another story, please_?"

"Not tonight, sweetie. We're going to need our rest for tomorrow. We've got a big day ahead of us."

The Pokémon groaned good-naturedly, then my Pokémon headed into my tent, and Jack's into his, except for Sydney. She went into Jack's tent alongside Ruby. I rolled my eyes and glanced at Jack. He shrugged.

"As long as they don't talk all night. I might not understand them, but I can still hear 'em."

"Just tell Sydney to shut up," I chuckled. "Thanks for saving us earlier."

"No problem." He got up and came closer. "Just don't make it a habit."

"I'll try." I stood up a little awkwardly. He was really close to me, closer than he usually was. "Um..."

He took another step, so he was right in front of me, his face filling my field of vision. I leaned back a little, not totally comfortable with being this close, but he grabbed my shoulders and brought his face even closer. I closed my eyes instinctively. I could feel his breath across my face as he leaned his head in and -

My Pokegear suddenly rang. Jack started back with a sudden curse. "Dammit! Are you serious!"

"Apparently," I muttered, my voice a mixture of anger and relief. I answered my Pokegear, noting that it was Dana calling, and making a mental note to kill her later. "Hello?"

"Hi Evey!" She chirped out in that annoying way of hers. "How's it going? What's going on?"

"Nothing, really. You sound happy."

"Yeah, I am," she sighed dreamily. "I just had a date with Ash Ketchum."

I winced in sympathy for him. "How was it?"

"Oh, it was great! We went to this really popular sushi place in Jubilife City, then went to a dance and for a walk in the park after."

"Sounds great. Listen, Dana, I don't mean to be rude, but it's about ten at night and I kind of want to get to bed."

"Oh! Before you go, where are you? How's the journey going?"

"We're heading to Veilstone in the morning."

"Awesome! Tell Maylene I said hi! Goodnight!"

"Wait, who's... Maylene," I muttered as she hung up.

Jack scowled at the Pokegear in my hand. "Remind me to strangle her when we see her next."

"I couldn't agree more. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he grunted, then disappeared into his tent. I shrugged and went into mine.

That night, my dreams were filled with Jack's face floating in front of me.

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**A/N**: Hey, look, I'm back! AcaelusThorne, that was the evil time for Dana to call. And wasn't it? Muhahaha! Anyway, Team Evack (Evey and Jack, as said by AcaelusThorne - I'm stealing everything again lol ;) have made camp just outside of Veilstone, and are headed to face Maylene in the morning. And Jack tried to kiss Evey! Do tell how you guys feel about the possibility of this pairing. The "romantic" stuff would stay as more of a background still, since I don't write romance.

Blastburnman: Oh, okay, that clears it up a little more. Thanks. I'll consider it.

Guest (from chapter 4): Thank you! I'm glad you love it!

Guest #2: Here you are, one new chapter, served fresh. ;)

Guest #3: Thank you for the birthday wishes, and here you go!

Please review! Every one brings a smile to my face. So no ghost readers allowed! :)


	15. Fighting Tooth and Nail

**A/N**: Sorry this one took so long. Here it is now, though!

**Disclaimer**: I've got a part-time job, but that wouldn't pay for a multibillion dollar franchise or two, now would it?

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Chapter 15

Fighting Tooth and Nail

We strolled into Veilstone City at about ten in the morning, having walked for two hours from our campsite to the city. Walking through the gate of the city, we almost immediately came upon a huge crowd of people in front of a blue metal-and-glass building nearby the Pokémon Center. At the front of the crowd, a group of men and women wearing black were standing beside a familiar man in an orange business suit. He was saying something to the crowd.

"With Team Rocket's new expansion into the Sinnoh Region will come new growth and expansion. Our expansion will aid in the still-ongoing recovery from the Team Galactic crisis of four years ago." Giovanni continued talking about the wonders of business growth while Jack tapped me on the shoulder, Tricks floating beside him and a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Wait here. I'll be back in a few minutes." The two disappeared.

"Where are you... going," I sighed. "Never mind."

I listened absently to Giovanni's speech for a while, wondering what Jack was doing and when he was going to come back. Finally, a few minutes after he had left, Jack returned with Tricks, grinning and holding a pale blue disc out to me.

"Found these inside the Galactic building," he stage-whispered. "Thought you'd like it."

I took the disc and examined it. Carved into its surface was "HM02 Fly".

"Fly?"

"A move that lets Flying-types carry their Trainers to any city they've been to before."

"Cool," I replied, my face breaking into a grin. "I'll have to teach it to Sydney later."

"Let's get out of this crowd first," he told me, pulling me along by my wrist to the Pokémon Center.

We dropped off our Pokémon for a check-up before the Gym battle. After we picked them up, I decided that it would be a good idea for Sydney to learn Fly before the battle, since Flying moves were super-effective against Fighting types.

I pressed the disc to her forehead, and it started glowing. Sydney's eyes widened.

After the disc stopped glowing, Sydney shook her head and said, "_Cool! I know a new move_!"

"Should we try it out?"

"Yeah, probably," Jack interjected. "Hey, Ace, help 'em out, would ya?"

Ace watched Sydney calmly. She didn't seem to be worried about getting hurt.

"Okay. Sydney, use Fly!"

Sydney flapped her wings and gained altitude, then dove, aiming at Ace. Sydney hit Ace in the face at top speed, knocking the catlike Pokémon back.

"Nice!" I said as Sydney landed on my head.

"_Wasn't it? I thought it went great_."

"It did. Soon as we heal Ace, we'll be about ready to face the Gym Leader."

I tossed Jack a Super Potion, and he healed Ace's wounds and recalled her. Then, we made our way to the Veilstone Gym.

We walked inside to find a mess that would be more at home in a martial arts building. Boxing rings covered the floor, and stacks of tires and punching bags blocked the way through the Gym.

A girl with pink hair and sports tape on her nose suddenly hung down from one of the punching bag racks, startling me. "Hey! Are you two here to face the Gym leader?"

"Yeah. And I'm trying to find someone called Maylene."

The girl extended her upside-down hand at me. "I'm Maylene!"

"... Hi. Dana Platinum says hi."

"Dana! Man, she hasn't called me in a month. Wonder what's up with her?"

"Not really sure. She called me last night." The girl was starting to make me kind of uncomfortable. "So, um, how do we get to the Gym leader?"

"Well, since you're friends with Dana, I guess I can give you a hint. See these punching bags?" She motioned to the one nearest us. "Those punching bags can knock the tires and stuff out of the way. Past them is the Gym leader."

"So how do we move them?" I asked without thinking. Jack and Maylene gave me a look.

"What are they called, Evey?" Jack said slowly, as if to a two-year-old.

I rolled my eyes, blushing. "Stupid question. I get it." I walked over to the punching bag and swung at it with all my might. It hardly moved.

Jack stared at me. "Didn't you ever learn how to throw a punch?"

"I didn't fight. I climbed trees."

He rolled his eyes. "Outta the way. Gotta do everything myself around here," he added under his breath. Then, taking a few steps back, he launched himself at the bag, hitting it hard enough that it flew down the rack and knocked the stack of tires out of the way. Maylene clapped a little.

"Not a bad hit," she said. "See ya later!" She dropped from the rack and left.

I glanced at Jack. "That was weird..."

He shrugged. "Let's keep going."

We walked past where the pile of tires had been standing to the next bag, which Jack knocked forward again. Past the next pile of tires were a pair of black belts. They battled us with a Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. We took them down with the help of Alec and Reaper.

The next punching bag revealed a dropped item - a red band with flames on it.

"What is that?" I asked, picking it up to examine it.

"That's a Focus Band. It can help your Pokémon avoid fainting."

"How's that work?" I asked cynically, but handed it to Sydney anyway.

At the next punching bag rack, an overly enthusiastic black belt challenged us to one other battle, which he promptly lost. He left staring at his feet and looking embarrassed.

"Guess he doesn't like losing much," Jack remarked flippantly. I chuckled a little.

We turned the corner to find the Gym leader's podium empty. From the ceiling dropped a small girl with pink hair and sports tape across her nose.

"Maylene? You're the Gym leader?!" I asked incredulously. She nodded enthusiastically.

"So you guys are fighting together?" She winked at us. "You guys make a cute couple."

I immediately went red and stammered out something unintelligible. Jack just smirked and draped his arm over my shoulders. "Maybe. But I think we've got a battle to win, right now." He tossed out his Poke ball and Reaper popped out.

"Right," I mumbled. "Sydney, you're up." The bird flapped off my head and landed on a punching bag rack beside us.

"Go, Meditite and Machoke!" Maylene sent the tiny Meditate Pokémon to sit across the field from Sydney, and the tall Superpower Pokémon to stand across from Reaper.

"Reaper!" The ghost looked at Jack, who simply nodded. Reaper disappeared.

"Sydney, Fly on that Machoke!"

"Use Rock Tomb to stop that bird," Maylene ordered quickly. "Meditite, help Machoke!"

Machoke picked a large rock up off the field and threw it towards Sydney, who just kept flying towards the gym roof. Meditite joined its comrade in throwing rocks, but their efforts were in vain. Sydney was out of reach.

"Reaper, now!" Jack called. Before anyone could react beyond jumping, Reaper had appeared in the air in front of Meditite and was hypnotizing it. The Fighting-type was asleep within a few moments.

"Meditite!" Maylene called worriedly. "Machoke, Rock Tomb!"

Before the Superpower Pokémon could pick up a rock, Sydney was dropping like a feathery stone towards Machoke. She made a direct hit on his head, knocking him silly. He wasn't out of the fight yet, though: as though by instinct, Machoke punched Sydney in the beak. Being so small, she was sent flying by the impact and hit the gym wall near me with a quiet thump. She fell to the floor, stunned.

"Sydney!" I cried. "Are you alright?"

She stood shakily and flapped her wings once, then again, pulling herself into the air. She looked about to faint, so I beckoned, but she refused to come back.

"Stubborn bird. Fine, use Wing Attack on Meditite!"

She flew towards the still-asleep Pokémon, stretching out her wings to knock the Fighting-type in the head. The crack on impact was loud and the attacked Pokémon fell over, still asleep. It was stirring slightly, though.

Before the half-conscious Sydney could make her retreat, Meditite had woken up. Seeing the small flying Pokémon above it, Meditite immediately picked up a nearby rock and hit her with it. This time, when Sydney fell, she couldn't get up.

"Return," I said simply, calling her back to her Poke ball. As much as she hated it, I couldn't really go out on the battlefield, especially since Machoke and Reaper started to fight rather than stare at each other.

Reaper Cursed Machoke, firing a shadowy nail into Machoke's side by sacrificing some of his own health. Angered by the pain, Machoke seized a large rock nearby and was attempting to hit Reaper with it. The mischievous ghost didn't let him, however; he kept disappearing and reappearing behind Machoke's back, which only angered the fighting-type even more.

"Alec! Go help Reaper out!" The houndlike Pokémon leapt out of his Poke ball and at Machoke, enthusiastically using Bite to get Machoke to release the rock it was holding. With a cry of pain, the Superpower Pokémon let go of the rock, which impacted its head on the way to the ground. That was the final straw for Machoke, who fainted, following the rock to the ground.

Meditite, who had come up behind Reaper, now released his attack: Confusion. Not only did the Psychic move hurt Reaper a lot, but it confused him. As a result, when Jack called for him to use Lick, Reaper flew over to us and licked Jack.

Jack scowled. I was trying not to laugh as I called, "Alec, use..." I wasn't really sure what to tell him.

"How about this?" he asked, opening his mouth and releasing a stream of fire right at Meditite.

I pulled out my Pokédex to check his moves. Apparently, at some point, Alec had learned Flamethrower.

"Lucario, help out Meditite!" Maylene sent out a Pokémon that looked like a larger, blue version of Adrian, with spikes on his wrists.

The Lucario ran over to Alec, pulling back its hand. It slammed its palm into Alec's side, stopping his Flamethrower and sending him flying.

"Reaper, snap out of it!" Jack called irritatedly. Reaper stopped messing around and looked at Jack. "Dark Pulse! Get Meditite out of here!"

Reaper released a black wave in Meditite's direction. Meditite was just on the verge of fainting, but still held on, so Reaper flew over to it and flicked it in the head. Meditite fell over, unconscious.

"Alec, Flamethrower!" He released a stream of flames at Lucario, but it dodged. Alec followed its movements with his attack, staying one step behind it.

I didn't notice Reaper disappearing, but a short moment after he had knocked out Meditite, Reaper appeared in Lucario's path and licked Lucario. The Lucario froze - whether because the Lick had paralyzed him or because of shock, I wasn't sure - but the next second, the full blast of Alec's Flamethrower enveloped him.

The Fighting and Steel type was not doing well, but he wasn't out yet. He dodged out of the flames and hit Alec with a hard punch. It apparently stole some of Alec's health to heal Lucario, because the jackal Pokémon looked refreshed.

"That was Drain Punch," Jack explained darkly. "We'll have to finish him quickly. Reaper, Hypnosis!"

The ghost quickly put Lucario to sleep. Then, the mischief-loving Pokémon picked up poor Lucario's ears and tied them in a knot on top of its head.

"Reaper," I reprimanded around my laughter, "that wasn't funny."

Maylene was even less amused. "Lucario! Wake up and use Metal Claw!"

Lucario didn't react. I called to Alec, "Let's finish this battle! Flamethrower!"

He released a blast of fire at Lucario. The jackal Pokémon flew backwards to lie on the ground, knocked out instead of asleep. We had won the match.

"Return, Lucario!"

"Yes! We won!" I extended my hand to Jack for a high five, but instead he took my hand, pulled me into a hug, and kissed me. On the mouth.

I was too shocked to do anything, and then it was over. I just stared at him. He smirked back.

"You guys do make a cute couple!" Maylene gushed. "I've got to tell Dana about this!"

"No, please don't. She'll call me again, and she'll squeal and break my ear, and it just really isn't worth it," I begged quickly. She laughed.

Ruby did too. "_I knew you loved him. You're so cute together_!" I rolled my eyes.

To try and save whatever dignity I had left, I ran over to Maylene and grabbed our badges from her. "Okay, thanks, gotta go, bye!" Without waiting to give Jack his badge, I ran out of the gym and over to the Veilstone Department Store.

Right then and there, the events of the last few seconds sank in, and I had to sit down. Jack just kissed me. Clearly, he had some feelings for me.

No one had ever really liked me before. I was mostly made fun of or ignored, called moron, or weirdo, or annoying, stupid, freak, or some combination thereof. I'd always been jealous of the popular girls, the ones who looked good no matter what they did, who all the boys were secretly after. Even at Hogwarts, I was never really that popular.

This was a novelty. I liked a boy... and he liked me back. I was excited.

While I was at the department store, I figured I should do some shopping. I went up the stairs to the supplies floor to pick up some more Potions and healing items.

I considered using a Revive on Sydney to wake her up and tell her what happened, but I decided against it. She would probably talk my ear off if I did.

Next, I went up one floor to find myself in a brightly lit gift shop. The walls were bright blue, and the shelves held all sorts of little knickknacks and souvenirs to associate with Veilstone. I saw a few things that were kind of silly, some that were kind of cool, and some that were downright strange. Only a few things caught my eye.

One was a rack of Pokémon plush toys. They had all kinds of Pokémon, from common to legendary.

I felt an odd, impulsive urge to buy one, or two. My money was suddenly burning a hole in my pocket. I picked up a Wingull and a Vulpix doll, noting that Sydney and Ruby looked different from the dolls. I wondered how rare different-coloured Pokémon really were. I knew they were rare, but I wasn't sure how rare they were.

I also picked up a Rayquaza doll. I had found a liking for the Hoenn legendary when I made it appear in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and I wanted a souvenir.

The other really cool thing I saw were sets of evolutionary stones. The stones were advertised as being able to evolve certain Pokémon, like Eevee, Roselia, and Vulpix. The set also came with a list of which Pokémon needed what stone to evolve. Apparently, Vulpix needed a Fire Stone.

I asked at the desk if I could buy just one stone, but I apparently either needed to find one or buy the set. I decided it would be easier to just buy the set, so I stacked it with the Pokémon dolls at the checkout counter.

"Could I get the stone set gift-wrapped?" I asked.

"Sure thing. May I ask why?" the clerk answered.

"Oh, it's a gift for my... boyfriend," I forced out. It was weird to think of Jack that way. I saw him as more of a best friend, but I figured I should adjust.

The clerk smiled knowingly. "No better way to keep a guy than give him presents."

"Yeah," I laughed, embarrassed. She finished wrapping the stone set and passed it to me.

"Have a nice day, and good luck," she told me with a smile. I grinned sheepishly back.

I went to the Pokémon Center, as it was now around five o'clock, and I assumed we were going to stay the night in town. The nurse at the desk watched me as I walked in.

"Are you Evey Pike?"

"Yeah, that's me," I replied confusedly. "What's going on?"

"A trainer asked me to leave a message for you. He told me to tell you that he would be back at around seven, and to be ready to go out for dinner."

"Oh, okay," I said, my confusion not dissipating, "thanks for the message."

"The two of you are in room 5," she told me.

"Thanks. Can you heal my Pokémon?"

"Certainly." She took my Poke balls off my hands. "Your Pokémon will be rested by tomorrow morning."

"Thanks again."

I headed into the room, dropped my bag, and immediately went to take a shower. I was in there until the water started to get cold - about an hour - wondering what I should wear. Where were we going, anyway?

After I got out, I carefully brushed and dried my hair. I noticed a note on the bed that I had missed when I came into the room. It was written in a messy scrawl that could only be Jack's.

_I got us reservations at a nice restaurant. Wear that dress that you wore for the Pokémon Contest. I'll come pick you up at the Pokémon Center at seven._

_- Jack_

Well, now I knew what to wear, at least. I pulled on the dress, pulled my hair into a meticulous bun, and spent the rest of the hour sitting on the bed, bouncing up and down with nervous energy and excitement.

Finally, seven o'clock came, and Jack knocked on the door. He didn't look like himself, though; for one, he was wearing a formal suit with a purple dress shirt and a dark blue tie. For another, his normally messy shoulder-length dirty blond hair was now neatly styled.

"Wow," I managed, "you actually look clean for once."

He looked only slightly amused. "Hilarious. Let's go before they give up our table."

When we got to the 'nice restaurant', I was shocked to find that it was a huge, luxurious high society snob restaurant.

"You didn't tell me we were going to a restaurant for millionaires!" I whispered fiercely. "How the hell did you get reservations?!"

He smirked. "I know someone." I just stared at him, waiting for elaboration, and he obliged. "Shortly after you ran out of the Gym, your friend Dana called Maylene. Dana mentioned that she had reservations for this restaurant with Ash tonight, so when Maylene told her that we were dating," here he smirked again, "she agreed to change her reservation to four people."

"Sneaky," I complimented.

"Watch me be even more sneaky. Let's not tell the doorman that we have a reservation and see how long it takes before he decides to kick us out."

"No, let's - hey!" I protested as he grabbed my arm and dragged me into the restaurant.

The maître d' looked down his nose at us. "What do you think you're doing in here? This restaurant is only for the most elite of people in the world. This is not a place for scruffy little Trainers."

"Who would you call the 'most elite'?" Jack asked innocently, making aerial quotation marks.

"Millionaires, Pokémon League Champions, and Gym Leaders. None of which you two are," he sniffed.

"What if we told you that we were the Gym Leaders in Lilycove City?"

"Lilycove City has no Gym," came the maître's stiff reply. "Now if you're quite finished messing around, you can leave. Or shall I call security to escort you?"

I stepped on Jack's foot as he went to give the man a smart remark in return. I then smiled sweetly. "We have reservations for tonight under the name Dana Platinum."

He looked at me skeptically, not believing me until he checked the guest book and found a reservation for four under that name.

"Miss Platinum and her date are already seated," he informed us, trying to cling to his last scraps of dignity as he realized that we had been messing with him. "Jonathan will show you to your seats."

As a fancily dressed waiter led us through the sea of well-dressed men and women, it occurred to me that Sydney would kill me if she found out she missed this. I resolved not to let her find out about this date.

"Evey!" Dana squealed as we drew close to the table. She stood up and gave me a hug. "It's good to actually see you again! You look great!"

"Thanks, you look good yourself." Her sky-blue dress matched her eyes, and her hair, curled and resting on her neck, complemented the design of her dress' neckline.

Ash and Jack shook hands and pulled each other into a guy hug. Ash was missing his usual hat, and the Pikachu that normally sat on his shoulder was nowhere to be seen. I wondered where it was.

"So, should we eat then, maybe?" I asked, sitting down and opening a menu.

The waiter came back a few minutes later to take our orders for drinks. Jack persuaded the poor man that he was nineteen, and was therefore able to order alcohol. He told the man to get him a whiskey. When the waiter left to get the drinks, I scowled at Jack.

"If you're going to drink, I'm not getting near you," I warned him. He grinned.

"Relax. I just wanted to see if I could convince someone I was old enough. I'm gonna tell him to get me a different drink after."

"How old are you really?" Dana asked.

"What day is it?"

"What kind of a question is that?"

"Well, depending on what day it is, I might be one age, or I might be a different one," he explained.

"It's May 4th."

"I'm sixteen."

"Me too," Ash said.

"I'm fourteen," Dana chirped.

"Thirteen. I hate being the youngest," I complained.

"You look older," Jack told me pensively. "Something about your face. You look like you've seen more of life." He made eye contact with me deliberately.

"I've seen a good bit of it, I guess. I saw my home burn down when I was little."

"Wow, what happened? Fire Pokémon accident?" Dana asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't really know." I was saved by the arrival of the waiter with our drinks. When he left again, Jack indelicately dumped his whiskey into a nearby potted plant.

"Well, you tricked the poor waiter. Now what?" I asked teasingly. He smirked.

"For my next trick," he announced dramatically like a parlor magician, "I shall go rig a cup of water to mysteriously decide to pour itself all over that guy's pants." He let Tricks out of his Poke ball and indicated a man sitting a few tables away. "See that guy in the orange suit? I want you to go grab a glass of water, sneak under the table, and pour it over his pants. You know where. Go invisible."

"Wait, orange suit?" I asked confusedly, turning to examine the target. I spotted a man in a fancy orange business suit with dark hair slicked back on his head. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Jack asked breezily. "No one'll know it was us."

"I guess," I agreed reluctantly. "But that guy's a big businessman, and he's in Sinnoh too. I hope he doesn't figure it out..."

Jack took me by the shoulders. "You worry too much." He kissed me for barely a second. "Maybe I shouldn't have thrown out that whiskey after all," he joked.

Dinner after that was nice. I ordered an expensive steak after Dana promised she'd pick up the tab.

A short minute after the meals arrived, a commotion began at Giovanni's table. Apparently, he had stood up for some reason and discovered the wet spot on his pants.

Automatically noting the location, I glanced at Jack with an expression of amused disbelief. "You made Tricks give a really rich, really famous businessman a wet stain on his pants there, right in the middle of a dinner date?"

Jack grinned easily back at me. "Come on, it's funny."

Try as I might, I couldn't keep from grinning. Jack pecked me on the lips again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that. "You smiled; I'm forgiven."

I sighed dramatically. "Fine."

The rest of the night was very relaxed. We told anecdotes about things that happened on our journeys. I dramatized the time when Jack angered a Staravia by getting too close to her nest with sound effects, which made Ash and Dana laugh. In revenge, Jack mentioned my mishaps at the Poffin House in Hearthome.

It was almost midnight by the time we finished dinner and went back to the Pokémon Center. I was exhausted - it had been a long day - but even so, I noticed that there was only one bed in the room.

"Are you kidding me, Jack?"

He smirked. "Nope."

Needless to say, I had a rough sleep on the floor that night.

* * *

**A/N**: So, I'm sorry I was gone so long. But I'm back now! Truth be told, I was having some motivation problems on this one. Am I the only one who feels like this is getting a little repetitive? If you feel the same, please give me some ideas or something to do.

Of course, I haven't been doing nothing on this story for a month and a half. I've been thinking about how the rest of it's going to go. I've mostly hashed out the structure. Here we go:

Search is probably going to end up with a total of about thirty to forty chapters. I'm hoping to finish it by about October 11, since that will be my two year anniversary on FanFiction. The story will end after Evey has talked to Harry and persuaded him to come back to the Wizarding World, with their leaving the Pokémon world. The part where Voldemort is cast out of power and killed in the Wizarding world will be a separate story. I haven't yet decided on a title for that one, so suggestions are welcome. The sequel will, at first estimate, probably wind up being about ten to thirty chapters long, story arcs depending. I'm also going to write a few omake chapters after the actual storyline of Search is finished.

And by the way, the wet spot on Giovanni's pants was in that classic embarrassing spot. Hint, hint. XD I'm evil sometimes.

Please review! Suggestions for the story, criticisms, things I could do better, anything. I love to know what people think of things I write or create. Brutal honesty will be accepted, but I find flames very rude, so please don't.


	16. Rescue Mission

**Disclaimer**: I've had almost every game in the Pokémon franchise, but Nintendo doesn't see why those are grounds for me to own Pokémon, so, I own nothing. Ditto with Harry Potter.

* * *

Chapter 16

Rescue Team

I awoke to something hard hitting me multiple times in the head. At first, I tried to roll away from it, but the hard thing followed me. I finally opened my eyes to see Sydney standing on my face with an annoyed looks on hers.

"_So when were you planning on telling me about your date last night_?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I denied, shoving her off of my face.

She hopped onto my chest instead, looking sternly into my eyes. "_Don't deny it, missy. You went on a date last night_."

I groaned. "Who told you?"

"_Ruby did. She heard it from Jack. Don't change the subject. When were you planning on telling me_?"

I sat up, causing Sydney to tumble off my chest and into my lap. "I wasn't planning to tell you, to be honest. I knew you'd go nuts."

"_Of course I would_!" She cried. "_You two finally realized that you're really dating! It's exciting_!"

"It's only exciting after seven in the morning, Sydney." It was actually about eight in the morning. Jack wasn't in the room. I wondered where he was.

In his absence, his Pokémon had taken over his bed. I glared at Ruby, who was happily curled up on Jack's pillow with a smug expression on her face.

Sydney pulled my head back so I was facing her again. "_So what happened? Tell me everything_!"

"Not that much to tell," I replied. "Jack made the doorman look like an idiot, made the waiter think he could order adult drinks, and made a rich businessman look like a pants-wetter in front of his date."

"_A pants-wetter? What's that_?"

"A pants-wetter is..." I explained it in a whisper.

"_Gross_."

"Yep. So Jack had Tricks pour a glass of water on his pants to make it look like he did that in the middle of dinner."

Sydney laughed. "_See, something did happen_."

I grunted. "Where's Jack?"

"_I think he went to go get breakfast_."

At that moment, the man himself walked through the door with a take-out bag and two cups of coffee in his hands. He handed me the bag and one of the coffees before taking a drink of his own.

I just stared at the hot drink. "I don't drink coffee."

"You should," he replied. "Keeps you awake. There's sugar and stuff in the bag."

I pulled out three packets of sugar, opened them, and dumped them into my cup, then stirred it around and took a drink. Even with the sugar, the drink was bitter.

I grimaced. "I didn't think coffee was supposed to taste like that."

Jack looked about to spit his out. "How dare they call that the best coffee in Veilstone? This crap sorely tempts me to commit arson..." He took another drink pensively.

"Wait, I thought you hated that?" I asked amusedly.

"Crap coffee or sleepwalking? I'd rather stay awake," came Jack's disgruntled reply. "Pass me the sugar and a sandwich."

I reached into the bag and pulled out a bacon and egg sandwich and the rest of the sugar packets and handed them over. He dumped all of the sugar into his cup, then took a savage bite of his sandwich.

Meanwhile, Adrian was curious about my discarded cup. "_Mama, can I try some_?"

"That would probably not be such a good idea, sweetie. Here, try this instead." I handed him half a strip of bacon from my sandwich, them gave the other half to Alec.

After we had all had breakfast, we were moving on from Veilstone. We had decided to got to Pastoria City next to battle Crasher Wake, then go north again to Snowpoint City.

The south exit of the city took us into a grassland. There were a few trainers milling around, battling each other or wild Pokémon. I could see a herd of Pokémon that looked like rather small rhinos.

Jack followed my curious gaze. "Rhyhorn," he explained. "Tough, but they forget why they charged in the middle of a charge."

"Really?"

"That's what rumor says, anyway. I don't know if it's true."

We decided that the sunshine was too nice to keep the Pokémon in their Poke balls, so we let them out to walk with us. I asked Inuise to keep an eye on Adrian, who had run off to investigate something or other.

Sydney and Ruby followed behind us at a small distance, discussing Ash's Pikachu.

"_He's so amazing. He's seen all the regions before! He even met Legendaries before_!" Sydney gushed.

"_Really? Which ones_?" Ruby sounded starstruck.

"_Umm, I think Kyogre, and Groudon, and maybe Dialga, and Mew, and Mewtwo... He told me more, but I don't really remember_..."

Jack noticed my interest in their conversation. "What are they talking about?"

"How many Legendaries Ash's Pikachu has met," I answered absently. "Did he mention what any of them were like?"

"_He said Kyogre was scary. Kyogre has this orb that controls him, and Pikachu said he got possessed by it... weird. And he said Mewtwo was kind of mean the first time they met, but the second time, he was a lot nicer. The second time, Mewtwo really cared about people and Pokémon_."

"That's good." Something about the mention of Mewtwo struck a chord in my memory. I couldn't place it, though, so I ignored it, but the feeling still kind of bothered me.

At that moment, Adrian jumped into my arms. "_Mama, save me_!"

A grey wolf-like Pokémon with a black back and black fur on its legs landed in front of me, snarling. The Pokémon stood up to about my waist, and it was scarred and generally looked tough and scary.

"Sydney, Wing Attack!" I commanded, deciding to stop the angry Pokémon before it attacked me.

Sydney hit the Pokémon with outstretched wings, but it didn't even pay attention.

"Spitfire, knock it back with Ember!" Jack ordered. Spitfire shot a small ball of flame at the attacking Pokémon, but it shook off the fire as it leaped at me.

I ducked and it sailed over my head. It growled as it landed and turned for another attack.

"Sydney, aim a Water Gun at its head!"

She missed with the first attack as the Pokémon lunged again, but the next one hit the Pokémon in the eye.

"Now follow it up with Fly, quick!"

She didn't even gain altitude before diving, impacting its flank and knocking it onto its side. While it was on the ground, I approached it carefully, placing Adrian behind me for protection.

"Are you alright?" I asked from a safe distance. "I'm sorry for attacking you, but you didn't really leave me a choice. Can you explain to me why you were following Adrian?"

"_I had been asleep and your young Riolu pulled at my ears. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but I haven't been in the best of moods lately_," the Pokémon explained. I was surprised to find that our attacker was a female.

"Why not?" I asked confusedly.

"_My pack was attacked by strange men in black cloaks. I was able to escape_."

"I know who the men in cloaks are," I said quietly. "I'll help you save your pack."

She studied me suspiciously, and a little surprisedly. "_How would you find the power to succeed where a whole pack of Poochyena and Mightyena failed_?"

"I can save your pack, at least, even if I can't get rid of the men in cloaks for good."

"_I'd be grateful for at least that much_," the Pokémon, who I now realized was called Mightyena, consented.

"Okay. Where are they?"

We planned a rescue strategy over the next hour. The Death Eaters had a base on the lakefront nearby - Lake Valor.

"_Their camp is guarded by my packmates, who they keep controlled using small sticks, and feelings of cold and sadness_."

"Cold and sadness..." I racked my brain of half-remembered Dark Arts lessons to think of anything lime that. Finally, the name and description of a creature came to mind. "Dementors?"

"Dementors?" Jack echoed, followed by the Pokémon.

"Dark creatures that look like big guys in cloaks, floating off the ground," I explained. "They have the ability to take away people's good memories, and suck their souls out through their mouths."

"Gross."

"There's a charm to repel them, but it's tough. You have to think of a really powerful good memory."

"Then what happens?"

"Well, you say the incantation - Expecto Patronum - and if the memory's strong enough, it shows up in the form of an animal," I explained. "An older kid taught me how to do it, but I could never really get it to make an animal."

"Well, hopefully you'll be able to do it properly this time," Jack said grimly, "or by the sound of it, we won't make it out of here."

I swatted him on the arm. "Don't be so pessimistic. We'll be fine."

Half an hour later, we had devised a strategy that we hoped would work well. Tricks, Reaper, Spitfire, Jack, Alec and Ace were going to distract the Death Eaters and try to knock out the guards, while Mightyena, Sydney, Inuise and I were going to free the rest of the pack.

Jack's group headed out to set up some distractions with Reaper and Tricks cloaking them from view. The rest of us snuck through the trees to wait for our signal.

A blast of flame shot into the sky a few moments later, about thirty or so feet from the camp. The one Death Eater I could see - a tall man built like a gorilla, with a face like a particularly stupid Neanderthal - ignored the first one, but when a tree began to burn a second later, he took notice.

"Hey Crabbe," he grunted into the tent behind him, "trees ain't supposed to just go on fire, are they?"

"Trees ain't supposed to burn, Goyle. Somthin's up, an' Lucius said we gotta check out whatever happens."

The two lumbered off in the direction of the flames. I waited a minute, listening to see whether there was anyone left in the camp, but the two Death Eaters had taken the guard Pokémon with them.

"Dumb as a pile of bricks," I muttered as we made our careful way into the camp. We found the rest of Mightyena's pack tied up by the necks inside a makeshift fence. Dementors were standing guard at each corner of the enclosure, keeping the pack of wild Pokémon compliant.

I raised my wand and concentrated on the memory of the day Adrian hatched. "Expecto Patronum!" I whispered. A silver vapor shot from my wand, alerting the Dementors by the fence.

The moment the cloaked creatures began to approach, my concentration waned and the silver vapor disappeared.

"Go, get the pack out. I'll try to hold off the Dementors until you can get out!" I sent the Pokémon forward and faced the Dementors.

They came closer quickly. Their influence added to my panic, and the roaring in my ears grew so loud that I could barely hear.

I concentrated hard on the memory of the day I met Sydney, but it was marred by bright red and orange flames and a little girl screaming for her mother...

I spotted Jack at the end of the clearing. He was staring at me, looking straight into my eyes. I could see protectiveness in his eyes. Protectiveness... and love.

"Expecto Patronum!" I yelled. This time, the silver vapor that came out of my wand took on a true form.

A tall creature with two legs formed. It was rather cat-shaped, especially in its ears and feet. It had hands, however, like a human's - but the hands only had three fingers. The Patronus also had a long tail, again much like a cat's.

Instead of directly charging the Dementors, as Patronuses supposedly normally did, my Patronus shot a silver orb at the Dementors. The creatures were knocked back, leaving an opening for the pack to be freed.

"Run!" I told the Pokémon, concentrating on keeping my Patronus up. Now that it was defending me, I couldn't feel their influence as much, so it was easier.

One of the Dementors swooped towards Jack. Without thinking, I ran over. Fortunately, the Patronus followed me, keeping the four Dementors at bay as I grabbed Jack and dragged him after our Pokémon.

"Mom," he muttered. "My dad..."

"Later, Jack," I said as I pulled him. "I can't keep this up much longer. We have to run."

He came back to himself at my plea and started sprinting. His long legs helped him run fast, pulling me along.

We escaped the clearing, leaving the Dementors behind, and met up with our Pokémon near an opening in the trees by the field with Rhyhorn, where we had agreed to meet after the raid anyway.

"So... Care to explain why that silver thing you made was a Legendary Pokémon?"

"Patronus. That was a Legendary Pokémon?"

Jack stared at me intensely, as though he was trying to read my mind or something. "Your... Patronus was Mewtwo."

As I occasionally did when I was confused, I started muttering out loud, trying to sort out the facts. "My Patronus is Mewtwo... Never seen it... Legendary... Patronus... Represents your true self... Pokémon Patronus..."

"You are a hybrid," Jack pointed out. "That might be normal."

"Maybe," I replied. That made sense, actually. "But what does Mewtwo have to do with it?"

Jack shrugged. "I don't know."

"I wish we could find someone who knew something about hybrids," I groaned. "This would be so much easier..." Then my thoughts landed on someone. "My dad."

"What about him?"

"He might know something about hybrids." I pulled out my Pokégear and called his number.

"Alexandra."

"Hi, dad. Do you know anything about hybrids?"

"Human hybrids?"

"Yeah."

I put him on speaker, so my group could hear him. "Not much is known about hybrids." His voice seemed a little strained, although that could have just been the low volume of the Pokégear speakers.

"I know, but I have the feeling you know a little bit more about them."

"I know some amount. Keep in mind, hybrids are so rare that the most anyone really knows about them are unsubstantiated rumors."

"That's fine. I just want to know."

He cleared his throat. "Hybrids are humans who can understand Pokémon speech. They also occasionally exhibit alternate powers.

"Hybrids are believed by some to be the direct descendants of Legendary Pokémon turned into a human form. The Legendary Pokémon take on a human form to pass on their genetic line, as Legendaries are unable to mate with other Pokémon. Others, however, believe hybrids are simply Pokémon empaths, people who have such a profound connection to Pokémon that they are able to understand their speech."

"Which do you think they are?" I asked him.

"The idea of Legendary Pokémon having children with humans is far-fetched, but the empathy theory doesn't account for the odd powers that some hybrids are known to have. I am forced to conclude that hybrids are the descendants of Legendary Pokémon."

"Thanks. That's all I wanted to know."

"It was no trouble." The Pokégear clicked as he hung up.

"Your dad didn't tell us anything we didn't already know," Jack pointed out.

"I've got an idea. I'll tell you later." I focused on the Mightyena pack. "Sorry about that."

"_Not a problem_," the Mightyena that had attacked Adrian, who I now realized was the pack's leader, replied. "_Thank you for your help_."

"Always happy to help."

"_To repay you for your help, I want to travel with you. You and your Pokémon work together well, and you're strong. I want to be strong like that_."

"Then... welcome to the team, I guess. Do you have a name, or should I give you one?"

"_My name is Trace_."

"Trace. Welcome to the team!" I pulled out a Poké ball and tapped her on the snout with it. She disappeared in a flash of light. One of the Mightyenas from the pack stepped forward, eyeing me carefully.

"_Take care of our leader_," he told me in a gruff, somewhat threatening tone.

"I'll make sure she doesn't get hurt." At the male's nod - I assumed he was the de facto leader - the pack ran off into the woods.

"Cool, new Pokémon," I said, looking at Trace's Poké ball.

"You've still got to explain what you were thinking," Jack reminded me as we headed south again.

"I'll explain when we make camp," I answered thoughtfully. "For now, let's just relax and enjoy the sunshine."

* * *

**A/N**: That's all, folks! Except for the interlude of the next chapter, which I'm posting at the same time. It's shorter and centers on Edward Pike, Evey's dad. It corresponds with the thickening of the sub-plot in this chapter. It's short. Next proper chapter will probably come sometime this weekend or next week.

Also, a reviewer asked me last chapter if I could put a list of the party Pokémon at the end of the chapters, so here you go:

**Evey:**

Sydney - Wingull

Inuise - Dragonair

Alec - Houndour

Adrian - Riolu

Trace - Mightyena

**Jack:**

Ruby - Vulpix

Spitfire - Cyndaquil

Tricks - Shuppet

Reaper - Haunter

Please review! I squee every time I get one, no lie. I get so happy when people tell me what they think of something I do!

Ace - Zangoose


	17. Interlude 1

**A/N**: So, short chapter centering on Edward Pike, Evey's dad, which isn't strictly related to the main plot of Search. Hope it's entertaining anyway.

**Disclaimer**: Let's see... I have five dollars, a button, a piece of ABC gum, and some pocket lint. Unfortunately, when I tried to bargain with them, Nintendo threw me out and JK Rowling called me a crazy stalker, so I don't own it.

* * *

Interlude 1

Edward Pike

In an undisclosed location...

Edward sighed as he placed the Pokégear onto a nearby rock. He wondered if his daughter had figured out his secret yet... She seemed to be close, although she hasn't said anything...

Although, he thought, were I in her position, I wouldn't have said anything either. She just didn't know him well enough yet, he supposed.

How would she react... What would she say if she knew the reason why I had to leave?

He hadn't lied when he told her that his job involved testing trainers. He hadn't told her everything, but he hadn't lied.

He did challenge trainers. A trainer couldn't be considered a Pokemon Master unless they had proof that they had found and battled him. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to find him, though.

In fact, the last time he had spoken to a trainer had been five years ago, in the Johto Region. That day had ended disastrously.

Since then, he had hidden and waited for challengers to arrive. It was a lonely existence, but it worked for Edward. He enjoyed the solitude.

His daughter reminded him very much of the way he was, although her mannerisms were those of her mother. Jane always acted the same way around her cat as her daughter did with her Pokémon. The memory of his partner brought a small smile to his face.

Edward often regretted not having brought Alexandra and her mother back to his world after the girl had been born. Jane wanted to raise her the way she had been raised, in her home country. Countries had such strange names in that world, he mused.

Now, though, Jane was dead and Alexandra didn't trust him. His regrets weighed much more heavily on him now that he had actually met his daughter past the age of three. She had accused him of not caring about her or her mother... That hurt. He loved them both dearly.

He considered telling his daughter his secret. There would be risks, but she deserved to know.

"Edward," came a voice from behind the thoughtful man.

"Abel." Edward turned to look at the new arrival, a man who was shorter and skinnier than Edward, but seemed to radiate power. Spotting the other man behind him, Edward greeted him as well. "Cain."

"You are conflicted, my friend," Abel said gently. "What troubles you?"

"My daughter," Edward admitted.

"I remember meeting her," Abel said. "She calls herself Evey, doesn't she?"

"Yes."

"What's bothering you?" Cain interjected. "I don't see anything wrong."

Edward sighed. Cain was rather insensitive at times. Probably has something to do with his rather thick skull... "She knows she's a hybrid, and I believe she's getting closer to discovering the truth about me and her status. I'm thinking of simply burying the hatchet and telling her."

"No. Not yet. The opportune moment will come within the next few weeks. Be patient, my friend."

"Why should I wait?" Edward scowled at Abel. "She has a right to know."

"Your daughter has a task here that is essential to the wellbeing of this world and hers," Abel explained. "To hear the truth may unbalance her. She needs to be focused."

"What exactly is this task of my daughter's? She refused to tell me herself." And Edward hated being left out of the loop.

"She must find a young man of Prophecy and convince him to return to their world. Much of it involves politics and arcane dark powers, but if you wish, I can explain it to you."

Edward considered his friend's offer, then shook his head. "She will likely tell me herself." He shook his head again, heavily. "I will wait to tell her the truth."

"Thank you, my friend," Abel said. "Believe me, it really is for the best."

As his guests departed, Edward scowled slightly. "Why does everyone reference the greater good when they try to justify their actions?"

* * *

**A/N**: And scene! I hope that confused you a little more! XD Please review!


	18. By the Campfire and Into the Swamp

**A/N**: Wild Update appeared! *Generation 1 battle music* I know, I'm awful. I'll explain at the bottom. For now, enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: If I owned anything, this "claimer" wouldn't have a "dis" in front of it.

* * *

Chapter 18

By the Campfire and Into the Swamp

We trekked through the forest until we hit sand. By the time we reached the beach proper - past the "snob hotel", as Jack called it - it was getting dark. We made camp by the edge of the water, building up a bonfire and pitching our tents. The Pokémon lounged by the flames while Jack and I talked.

"So... you were saying something about your dad before we left the clearing. What's going on?"

"I saw my parent's deaths. They... I never told you how they died, did I?" he asked. I shook my head. While he talked, he focused on the flames.

"The house blew up or something. They said that a Voltorb somehow got into the house or something, I don't really remember. My mom didn't make it, and I didn't think my dad did either.

"But when I saw the memory earlier, I realized that I had seen a figure running away while the house was burning. I think it might have been my dad."

"But how would a Voltorb be able to get into your house? Maybe the person running was the one who put it there."

He mused over that for a moment before he shook his head. "Maybe. But the person was tall, with wide shoulders, like my dad. I think it was him."

"How do you even remember that? The Dementors cause fear, not flashbacks."

"Yeah, but after, when the silver thingy-"

"Patronus," I interrupted.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Patronus. Anyway, when that appeared, I just... realized it."

"So... What about it?" I frowned. "That didn't come out right. I meant, what do you want to do about it?"

He shrugged, still staring at the bright fire in front of him. "I don't know. I kind of want to look for him, but... not until later. Not until after we finish what we're doing now." He turned his head to face me. "What you're doing is more important than my dad is."

"Jack," I said quietly, "if you want to go find your dad... I never asked you to stay. You don't have to."

"But I want to stay," he said emphatically. "You're important to me." Then his face broke into a grin. "And besides, you wouldn't be able to function without me."

"Is this about my cooking skills?" I asked mock affrontedly. "Because I'm perfectly capable of making a meal."

"Consisting of takeout food," he finished. "Face it, sweetheart, you're stuck with me."

I rolled my eyes, but I have to admit that a little thrill went through me when he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

"So on the subject of parents," he said, his cheek still against mine, "what were you saying about your dad?"

"What?" His closeness was scrambling my brain. It took me a minute to understand what he had asked. "Oh, right. Well, I think my dad might have met Mewtwo once or something."

"Once?"

"Well, maybe more. But my dad had something to do with Mewtwo."

"Maybe he caught Mewtwo."

I frowned slightly. "Can people catch Legendary Pokémon?"

"It's possible, but you have to have really tough Pokémon. And you apparently have to be really good friends with your Pokémon for them to appear at all."

"Catching a Pokémon creates a bond with them," I recalled a tidbit I had overheard someone in a crowd say once. "If my dad has a bond with Mewtwo, that might explain my powers and my Patronus."

"And the speech is an extension of that," Jack finished. "You've put a lot of thought into this."

"Walking around gives one a lot of time for thinking." We were silent for a few moments, then I asked, "What do you think is going to happen once we're done this quest?"

"We'll... I don't know. We'll do whatever we want to, I guess. See other regions, raise our Pokémon... Anything."

"That sounds nice," I whispered. We sat together in silence, watching the fire, until we decided it was time to go to bed. I made my way towards my tent before Jack's arm wrapped around my waist.

"Come on," he said lightly, dragging me into his tent. "I don't bite."

"That's not comforting," I muttered, but I came along anyway.

Jack had the right idea. It was cold that night, so we kept warm in his tent. None of the Pokémon joined us, though - guess they went to my tent.

* * *

The next morning, we were up and going at eight. We crossed the beach, going barefoot to enjoy the feeling of the soft sand and warm water. One or two people were milling around, and a couple were waiting to battle passersby. They challenged us when we came close.

"Sydney, use Fly on Makuhita!"

"Ace, Slash!"

The Makuhita unfortunately dodged Sydney's attack, but was knocked away by Ace's Slash.

Meanwhile, the couple's other Pokémon, a Butterfree, wasn't just sitting around doing nothing. "Butterfree, Bug Buzz!" The woman called.

Butterfree flew at Ace. Its wings flapped rapidly, releasing an unholy noise that had Ace covering her ears. While she was distracted, Makuhita ran up and sent a Mega Punch at her face, sending Ace sprawling, unconscious.

"Sydney, quick! Fly!" She flapped her wings a few times to gain altitude, then dove to hit Makuhita. The short Fighting-type could only stare as Sydney's beak came flying at its face at top speed. The hit knocked it out and sent it flying into Butterfree, whose hovering pattern was interrupted. The butterfly Pokémon sailed back a number of feet before it shook off Makuhita's impact and straightened itself out.

"Butterfree, Bug Bite!"

Butterfree flew eagerly towards Sydney. I wasn't sure how much damage Butterfree's tiny fangs could do, but I didn't want to take any chances, since Ace was already down. I needed Sydney out of there.

"Dodge it and use Water Gun!" I commanded. Sydney banked to the right and fired a burst of water. It missed the Bug-type as it swerved to follow Sydney.

The next few moments were dedicated to a floating game of cat-and-mouse as Butterfree pursued Sydney and she banked, swerved and twisted out of its way. Occasionally, Butterfree would try to shoot a fine web at its prey, but Sydney would counter it with a carefully aimed Water Gun.

Too soon, though, Sydney began to tire of her elaborate manoeuvres, and she couldn't stop Butterfree from hitting her with a String Shot. The fine web wrapped around in Sydney's feathers and made it difficult to flap her wings. Unable to soar, Sydney slowed and dropped out of the air. Butterfree took the opportunity, speeding up to attack. It sank its tiny teeth into Sydney's body multiple times before slamming her into the ground. She didn't move, clearly unconscious.

I ran over and picked her up as the couple celebrated. "Nice match," I told them with a smile, feeling no spite at our loss. Amazing, especially considering that I would normally be mad at the loss. I guess Sydney's carefree attitude had rubbed off more than I thought. "Your Butterfree is really strong."

"Thanks," said the woman. "Your Wingull is really good at dodging - I couldn't believe that corkscrew it made. Three turns!"

I smiled proudly. My Pokémon were awesome. "Thanks."

I regrouped with Jack after giving Sydney a Revive. She rested on my head as we continued our walk.

Across the beach, there was a small house with a sign in front of it. I bent to read it curiously.

"'Mr. Footprint'," I read aloud. "'Let me tell you how your Pokémon feels!' Weird."

"_Probably a big fake_," Sydney commented.

"Probably not completely accurate," I agreed. "Should we try it anyway?"

"Might as well," Jack shrugged. "Might be funny."

We entered the house to find an older man in front of a sand pit on the floor. "Hello," he greeted. "Have you come to find out how your Pokémon feels about you?"

I nodded.

"Which Pokemon's thoughts do you want to hear?"

"Ruby," Jack said quickly, shoving the yellow Vulpix towards the sand pit.

"Just walk along the sand in front of me," the man said encouragingly. Ruby strode along the sand, leaving small but well-defined footprints behind.

I studied the prints, but couldn't see anything that might tell Ruby's thoughts in them. Apparently, the man thought otherwise, because he hummed and hawed over the prints for a moment.

"Your Vulpix seems to trust you a lot," he told Jack. "She's very loyal. She loves you a lot."

If he hadn't been Jack Napier, I was sure that he's be gaping at the man. As it was, I could read his surprise in his eyes.

"I hope so," he managed. "Thanks."

"It was no trouble," the man waved him off. "I enjoy finding out what Pokémon think."

We left, walking across the sand towards a line of trees where the ground turned to wet soil. Jack was staring stoically at the trees. I laughed and reached up to peck him at the cheek. "So he wasn't a fraud. Your face was still pretty funny."

He scowled at me. "My face was not funny," he replied.

"You might not have been gaping, but you were totally stunned. I could see it," I informed him.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Remind me what gives you the right to read my mind after only knowing me for two weeks?"

I rolled my eyes in return. "I love you too, Jack."

Jack stopped walking and stated at me. The stunned expression was back on his face. "You've never said that before."

"Haven't I?" I frowned, feeling my face heat up. "Oops."

"Nah," he refuted, a grin crossing his face. "You love me. I knew it."

"Yeah," I muttered. I was sure that if I looked out at the water, my face could be used as a lighthouse.

Suddenly, he grabbed my face, turned it to him, and brought his lips to mine. I returned the kiss eagerly until he ended it a moment later, still grinning.

"Never been loved before," Jack said. "It's kind of nice. You ever been loved before?"

"Nah," I answered breathlessly.

"First time for everything," he replied, bringing his lips to mine again.

"_Okay, that's enough_," Sydney interrupted the proceedings. I pulled my hands out of Jack's messy hair and turned to the Wingull, who was standing on Ruby's head looking annoyed. "_Too much mushy stuff going on here_."

"Yeah? Well, since when has your opinion mattered?"

"_Okay, I'll tell you what does matter, and you better translate this_," she warned, shaking a wing at me. "_There's a Gym in that town. You have stuff to do. You have to get to that Gym, get its Badge, and go! Enough of that mushy human stuff_!"

I glowered at my first and best friend. She was right, but still.

"What is she saying?" Jack asked me, noticing my glare.

"She's pulling a voice of reason," I muttered, turning away from him. "We've got a badge to earn."

"Right,"Jack said, grabbing my hand and pulling me across the sand. "Let's go."

"_Hey! Wait for us_!" Sydney cried, fluttering over to my head. Ruby dashed after us, following at Jack's heels.

We entered Pastoria City a few minutes later, after bypassing a large patch of grass and some rather deep mud, which Ruby almost got herself stuck in before we realized it was there. Needless to say, she was not happy about that.

Just through the gate, we were nearly mown down by a rather large masked man running around.

"Hey! Watch it!" I snapped as he ran past.

He ignored me, calling out. "Quagsire, come back here!"

"_No_!" A rotund blue Pokémon replied. "_I'm having fun here_!" The Pokémon was hanging onto a little girl, who was giggling.

"Come on, Quagsire! What about that kid in the Gym?"

"_He can wait_!"

The man sighed frustratedly as his Pokémon refused to move. He turned to the people watching. "Can anyone help with my stubborn Pokémon?"

"I'll help," I volunteered. I walked up to the Quagsire, slowly, so as not to startle it. Of course, since I seem to have the devil's luck, Quagsire wasn't interested in that. He ran off. I gave chase.

I was right on the blue Pokemon's heels. It was laughing as it ran away, ducking around people.

Growing tired of the chase, I grabbed a Poke ball and tossed it. "Trace, help me out!"

The sight of the scarred Mightyena startled many of the townsfolk. A few women screamed.

"Hey!" The masked man who owned the Quagsire called. "Don't hurt Quagsire! I need him!"

"I won't hurt him," I replied. "Trace, just pin him against a tree or something. If you have to hit him, just use Tackle."

Trace chased after the blue Pokémon. I could see that she was better at it than I was - probably, years of living in the forest had given her practice. She was right at Quagsire's heels the whole time, herding him against the side of a building patiently.

After a few minutes and a few narrowly cut-off escape attempts, Trace had Quagsire caught against the side of a building. The big masked man came rumbling over.

"Quagsire, return!" He commanded, tossing his Poke ball at the Pokémon. He turned to me. "Thanks for the help. I'm Crasher Wake, Gym Leader of Pastoria City."

"I'm Evey Pike. And this is Trace," I added, scratching the Mightyena behind the ears for a moment before returning her to her Poke ball.

"If all your Pokémon are as tough as Trace, we're gonna have a great battle!" Wake replied enthusiastically.

"And Jack, too," I said as the man came up and slung his arm around my shoulder.

"Oh, yeah," Wake said. There was an almost crazy gleam in his eye. He was apparently very enthusiastic. "If you two want to come to the Gym this afternoon, we can battle."

"Why not right now?" Jack challenged.

The big man barked out a laugh. "Excited? I got a battle this morning, then a wrestling match a little later, so we can't right away, but tell you what. You kids go play a Safari Game, and we'll get a great battle set up for later."

I nodded, a grin crossing my face. "Sounds good. Where's the Safari Game?"

Wake pointed out a tall building next to what appeared to be the Gym. "See that building over there? That's the gate. Go in there and the Great Marsh Safari Game is right on through." He clapped me on the shoulder, a move that almost sent me to the ground - definitely strong enough to be a wrestler - and walked away.

Jack laughed and dragged me to the Great Marsh gate. Inside, we went to the counter.

"How do we start a Safari Game?" I asked the clerk.

"Five hundred Poké gets you thirty Safari Balls and unlimited time," the clerk said, sounding extremely bored. "You get to keep any Pokémon you catch in the Marsh, but you can't use your Pokémon to attack them and you can only use Safari balls to catch them. Throwing mud at a Pokémon will make it easier to catch, but might make it run away; throwing bait at a Pokemon-" she held up a small pouch of an unidentifiable substance that was apparently food, "will make it stay around, but harder to catch." She pushed the bait bag at us. "Any questions?"

"Nope," I replied, laying the money on the counter. She handed us each a small bag of green camouflage-patterned Poke balls and indicated the doors behind her.

We went out the doors to find a tangle of trees and a great big patch of mud stretching out before us.

I groaned. "Ugh, I hate mud. Wish I had learned a vanishing spell..."

"Oh well," Jack said, taking my hand and dragging me towards the nearest mud pit.

We wound up making a game within the Safari game. We would tramp through mud pits, trying to scare up as many Pokémon as we could. We would call the name if the Pokémon to each other, and whoever found the coolest Pokémon within a certain time limit won. Jack was better at it than I was - the Pokémon often called out to each other, so he could find the best Pokémon according to their calls.

At the end of our fourth round - Jack had won again - I suggested that we find somewhere to stop for lunch. Jack agreed, so we looked around, but all we could see in any direction was mud and trees.

"I could climb a tree, find out where we are and where to go," I suggested.

"Nah, let's just hang out here. There's a banana tree over there, though, so you could climb that and grab some lunch."

I shrugged. "Sure. Which tree?"

He pointed out a tan tree with a green shoot near the top. I could see the bananas right underneath the shoot. I looked at him.

"Bananas for lunch?" I asked skeptically.

He shrugged. "Bananas are good."

I sighed and started climbing. The trunk of the tree was smooth, but that was no problem. I shimmied up the tree slowly, pulling myself to the top. Occasionally the tree would shiver, but I ignored it.

"Hah! Bananas!" I crowed triumphantly a few moments later. I plucked a few of the bright yellow fruits and tossed them to Jack. As I went to slide down the tree, it shook wildly. Suddenly, an eye opened in the leafy protrusion above the fruit.

"Ah! It's a Pokémon!" I yelled, letting go of the trunk - or rather, the Pokemon's neck - and landing on my butt in the mud.

The Pokémon bent its long neck down to look me in the eye. "Did you take my fruit?" the Pokémon asked in a female voice.

"Yeah. Um, I'm sorry about that. We didn't realize you were a Pokémon."

"It's fine," she laughed. "I like it when people enjoy my fruit."

"You're kind of easy to mistake for a tree," I said sheepishly. "Sorry we woke you up."

"I needed to wake up at some point anyway," she replied, shaking out her neck and stepping away from the trees.

Now that I could see her better, I noticed she looked a lot like a dinosaur - long neck, bulky body - except that she had leaves growing out from the base of her neck. They waved powerfully, looking oddly like wings.

"Tropius," Jack identified. "I thought Tropius mostly lived in the Hoenn region."

"We do," the Tropius replied. "Some of us decided to migrate here a long time ago. The moisture around here is very nice."

I translated this for Jack's benefit and he nodded.

"Makes sense. Plant Pokémon need water as much as regular plants do."

"Well, it's convenient, anyway," I said. "Thanks for the fruit."

"It is my pleasure," Tropius replied.

We ate the fruit and talked for a while, going over strategies for the battle with Wake. Jack was adamant that we should send out Alec and Spitfire.

"Jack, they're Fire-types. Judging by the fact that the guy had a Quagsire, I think he's a Water Pokémon user."

"He is," Jack agreed. "We can use that to our advantage."

"How?!" I asked, exasperated. "How can a pair of Fire-types help us in a Water Gym?"

"Remember by the campfire a few nights ago, when I was talking with Alec and Spitfire about Water tactics?"

"Vaguely," I answered, a little confused by the subject change. "Why?"

"In a Water Gym, there'll probably be a pool or something. So his Pokémon will probably be in the water most of the battle. Are you following?" At my blank stare, he let out a frustrated sigh. "I was telling Alec and Spitfire that they could heat up the surface of the water so that the Water Pokémon couldn't get out of it. Now do you get it?"

"Yeah. But I still see a big hole in this plan," I pointed out."

"What is it?" Jack asked, confused.

"Spitfire doesn't listen to you. How do you know he'll go along with a plan like this?"

"I don't," Jack admitted. "But it's not a bad plan."

"Maybe let's leave it as a last resort," I conceded. "What will the rules be for the battle?"

"Don't know," Jack shrugged. "Hopefully four-on-four, but I guess we'll find out later."

We decided to hang around in the Safari Zone for a while, since it was only around noon by the time we finished lunch. We continued our Pokémon spotting game, which Jack continued to win.

"You're a cheater," I complained when he won three rounds in a row. "You know where al the good Pokémon are."

"Not cheating," Jack replied smugly. "Your talent's just not as helpful as you thought."

"It's useful most of the time," I returned. Then I shoved him into a deep mud pit and ran away, laughing.

We stayed in the Safari Zone until about three, when we figured Wake would be done his wrestling match. As we were leaving, though, we were unexpectedly accosted.

"Hey, wait a minute!" A female voice called from behind us. Lumbering footsteps approached, and we turned to see Tropius running towards us.

"Hi, Tropius," I greeted. "What's going on?"

"I want to come with you," she told us, smiling a little goofily.

I glanced at Jack, shrugging. "Sounds good to me," I said. "You want a Tropius, Jack?"

He grinned and pulled out a Safari Ball. "Sounds good." He tapped Tropius with the ball. When it stopped shaking, he attached it to his belt, then turned back to the gate and left me standing.

"Hey, wait up!" I said, scrambling through the gate after him. "I hate it when he does that!"

* * *

**A/N**: Sorry! *dodges bullets* I really am, though. Most of the approximately two months I haven't updated this were due to laziness and motivation problems, as well as working on another, future crossover. Not Search's sequel, either, just another crossover. Involving Star Wars. Also, I got into Doctor Who. Blame my brother and one or two of my best friends for that. *dreamy sigh* Nine... Anyway, sorry. I'm going to not spend two months sitting on the next update, though, so that's probably good.

Review replies:

Guest (chapter 6): I was thinking that, but so many people in Pokémon crossovers have Eevees that I didn't want to do it. Although it would admittedly be amusing to say "Evey's Eevee", but I kind of made that joke in one of the chapters. So no Eevees here. But thanks for the feedback.

Guest (chapter 7): Yes, yes he is. Thank you.

Thanks to all you people who have reviewed and/or will review. 66 reviews! You people are fantastic!

Please review! Even if I don't update for months at a time. I'm awful, sorry. But still do review, thank you!


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